At least someone's having a White Christmas: Emperor penguins frolic on Snow Hill in Antarctica
By Gavin Allen25th December 2011
As Britain enjoys mild weather on December 25, it's good to know that at least someone has had a White Christmas.
However, if you wanted to enjoy the snow with these Emperor penguins you would have to travel 400 miles from civilisation.
Photographed in the freezing South Atlantic waters around the remote South Georgia Island, four days east by boat from the Falklands, the Emperor penguins have such little contact with humans that they come close enough to peck the camera.
Queuing up: Emperor penguin chicks stand on
frozen sea ice in Snow Hill Island in the South Atlantic, where
temperatures drop to as low as -60C
Give us a cuddle: Two Emperor penguin chicks with wings wrapped around each other
Isolated: The cycle of parenthood among the
colony sees females lay a single egg before leaving it behind to
undertake a two month hunting expedition
Braving the 1.5 degree celsius water to the point where his hands took one hour to get the feeling back, Souders was stunned by the ease with which the penguins accepted him.
'First off, the water is very, very cold. Barely above freezing,' he said.
'I'd never been in anything like it so it came as a bit of a shock. My face went numb and my hands grew painfully cold.
'But it was utter magic. I'd only ever seen penguins on land and to be honest, they look like idiots there - graceless and clumsy and hilarious.
'But to see them in the water was to see them in their element. They are incredibly graceful, strong swimmers. It's like watching them fly.'
Looking up to his parents: Two Emperor penguins shelter a young chick in the freezing winds
Wait a minute, you've already hatched! This chick huddles on his father's feet, where the eggs are kept warm
Whee! Penguins slide across the frozen sea ice as they travel up to 50 miles to reach the open ocean
White Christmas: This Emperor penguin with its young chick stands on frozen sea ice in Antarctica
'We'd anchored in a small protected bay outside a massive penguin rookery on South Georgia Island,' said Souders.
'It was late in the summer there, and many of the penguins were fat and happy, their chicks mostly grown.
'So they were curious about the boat anchored there, and even more so when I plopped into the water.
'They swam right up to the camera dome and pecked at their reflections.'
Souders felt privileged to be in the same environment as the swimming birds.
'Some were quite curious about me, circling around me as I floated in the sea and coming over to check out their reflection in the glass underwater camera dome,' he said.
'They were all individuals from the nearby rookery, stopping off to check out the new neighbours.
'I can only stress what a privilege it is to do this work, to see wild animals undisturbed in their natural environments.
'I think it's critical for photographers to accept our responsibility not to not disturb the animals we encounter, and to encourage everyone to respect and protect the natural world.'
Remote: The penguins are so unused to human
interaction that they even looked at their own reflections in
photographer Paul Souders' camera lens
March of the penguins: Souders says the penguins
look 'clumsy and hilarious' on dry land but are graceful in the water -
and they spend a lot of time on the ice as they get to grips with the
responsibilities of parenting
Morning constitutional: Penguins take a group stroll along the ice on a sunny arctic morning
source
And thanks to my dear friend, Paul, for sending me the link!!!!
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