Journeys with Emperors: Tracking the World's Most Extreme Penguin

Journeys with Emperors is a book that provides a firsthand account of a researcher's time in Antarctica and the perilous journeys of the world's largest penguin species, the iconic emperor penguin. The book features stunning photographs from the ice edge and reveals important aspects of emperor penguin behavior and physiology, such as their diving depths and their life at sea. The colony is located on a narrow band of sea ice attached to the Antarctic continent, and the researchers gained access to it by using a small boat. The book also highlights the dangerous interactions between emperor penguins and leopard seals and killer whales.

Format: Hardback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 29 November 2023
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

Emperor penguins are the largest species of penguin in the world, and their colonies are located in some of the most remote and challenging environments on Earth. In Journeys with Emperors, Gerald L. Kooyman and Jim Mastro take us on a journey to one of the largest known emperor penguin colonies in the Ross Sea, located on a narrow band of sea ice attached to the Antarctic continent. The primary mission of the researchers was to record the activities of the penguins at sea, and the data they collected revealed important aspects of emperor penguin behavior and physiology.

One of the most remarkable discoveries was that emperor penguins dive to depths of greater than five hundred meters (a third of a mile), which is deeper than any other diving bird. The researchers also found that most of the emperor penguins' life is spent at sea, with fledged chicks and adults making separate, perilous journeys through icy water. When chick nurturing is complete, the fledglings abandon the colony in large groups, heading north to the Southern Ocean. The adults leave at the same time, traveling one thousand kilometers eastward across the Ross Sea to a sea-ice sanctuary for molting.

During this journey, the adults must gain enough weight to survive the month-long molt, when every feather is replaced and the birds cannot enter the water to feed. After the molt, many if not most return to the colony to breed once again. For the males, this means a long journey back to the colony, where they must compete for mates and establish a territory.

Journeys with Emperors is a fascinating and eye-opening book that provides a firsthand account of the lives of emperor penguins and the challenges they face in their harsh and unpredictable environment. The book is filled with stunning photographs that capture the beauty and majesty of these incredible birds, and it sheds light on the important work that researchers are doing to protect and study these endangered species.

Weight: 444g
Dimension: 160 x 237 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780226824383