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00:00PENGUINS ARE NOT YOUR USUAL BIRD.
00:17THEY HAVE WINGS, BUT THEY CAN'T FLY.
00:21ON LAND, THEY MAY BE CLUMSY.
00:26AT SEA, THEY'RE ACROBATS.
00:36THEY HAVE CHARM AND CHARACTER, AND THEY WEAR A COAT AND TAILS.
00:44THE POPULAR IMAGE OF PENGUINS IS THAT OF AN AWKWARD BIRD, LIVING IN A WORLD OF ICE
00:48AND SNOW.
00:50BUT THEIR STORY IS NOT SO BLACK AND WHITE.
00:53THEY CAN ALSO BE FOUND IN THE SCORCHING DESERTS OF SOUTH AMERICA, THE FORESTS OF NEW ZEALAND,
00:58AND EVEN ON SUBURBAN STREETS.
01:01AND THEIR ABILITY TO SURVIVE UNDER SOME OF THE TOUGHEST CONDITIONS ON EARTH IS ANYTHING
01:07BUT AWKWARD.
01:08JOIN US AS WE MEET THE REAL PENGUINS.
01:24We all have an image of penguins skating on ice at the South Pole, images that come
01:47from childhood.
01:53Penguins are storybook creatures to most of us, comical characters with a funny walk.
02:01Real penguins are creatures of water.
02:03They spend most of their lives at sea, where they are fast and powerful predators.
02:14They are awkward on land, even funny, but penguins must live in two worlds, and it's
02:20only their remarkable abilities that let them conquer both.
02:40Many think penguins live only in Antarctica.
02:43Four species come ashore there, where it can reach 100 degrees below zero.
02:49But others are equally at home at 100 degrees above.
02:55Some form vast colonies, others prefer to be alone.
02:59The smallest penguins in the world may even come ashore in seaside suburbia.
03:09They can be aggressive competitors or tender and dedicated partners.
03:22Penguins originated more than 50 million years ago in the New Zealand region.
03:27They were latecomers in the long history of birds.
03:32The southern continents were splitting apart, opening up new channels.
03:36A circumpolar current brought rich nutrients to the newly formed southern oceans.
03:44There were seabirds of many kinds along these ancient shorelines.
03:49Their wings carried them out to feed on the bounty of fish in the new currents.
03:56But down on the shore, one group of seabirds gave up its ability to fly.
04:05These birds used their wings to swim in the sea rather than fly above it.
04:10It was a radical change of tactics in the evolutionary race.
04:20Winds of the air could quickly locate the teeming, gleaming shoals of fish.
04:47But much of this food lay beyond the reach of these birds.
04:51They could only scratch the surface.
04:55Some birds, like petrels and albatrosses, learned to use their wings to chase prey underwater.
05:05But they could only dip into the first few feet of ocean.
05:11Wings designed for air don't work very well in water.
05:14They're a compromise.
05:19Penguins made no such compromise.
05:21By totally giving up the ability to fly, their wings became powerful flippers.
05:32They broke the dive barrier and were able to hunt prey at ocean depths where no other
05:38bird could go.
05:47Penguins were so successful that they rapidly evolved into different types.
05:51They now live all over the southern hemisphere.
05:56The classic tuxedo types are found in Antarctica, along with the largest, like the emperors.
06:04Different species, with yellow crests and one with a yellow eye, live on the islands
06:09across the sub-Antarctic.
06:12Little blues, the smallest penguins, are found in New Zealand and southern Australia.
06:17The northernmost are the banded penguins.
06:20They live on the shores of southern Africa and South America.
06:29The farthest north of all live in the Galapagos Islands, straddling the equator.
06:38There's enough food on the islands for grazers like marine iguanas and turtles.
06:46But tropical waters are usually poor in nutrients and the great numbers of fish that penguins
06:52need.
06:55And yet, they flourish here.
07:03These waters are special.
07:05They are cold and nutrient rich and have come all the way from Antarctica via the Humboldt
07:11Current.
07:12The Galapagos Islands abound with cold water animals like sea lions.
07:30All penguins of the tropics and subtropics rely on cold, rich currents to deliver silvery
07:36curtains of fish.
08:00Penguins have truly conquered the oceans.
08:24They spend as much as 80% of their time in water.
08:28And each year, they forsake the sea and struggle ashore.
08:36No matter how awkward it is, every penguin must return to land.
08:40The two things which define them as birds, eggs and feathers, force them to live a life
08:46in two worlds.
08:59Birds lay eggs that can only be kept warm on land and worn out feathers must be replaced.
09:05This Galapagos penguin must wait high and dry until its plumage is waterproof again.
09:17It was the variety of unusual creatures on the Galapagos Islands that intrigued the great
09:22scientist Charles Darwin more than 150 years ago.
09:29Darwin observed that different species of finch had beaks of different shape and function.
09:35He also noticed that giant tortoises differed in size and patterning from island to island.
09:43From these and other observations, Darwin theorized that species became suited to their
09:48environment.
09:50Different environments eventually give rise to different species.
09:58All penguins share a single environment, the sea.
10:02That's what makes them all similar.
10:06It's where they leave the water that makes them different.
10:12Craggy cliffs and angry seas, surely an impossible place for penguins to come ashore.
10:40Being ashore is only half the battle, there's still a 90 foot cliff to climb.
10:52They're called rockhopper penguins and it's easy to see why.
10:57They have extra strong ankles and long toenails to grip the wet boulders.
11:12Their destination is a semi-flat area at the top of the cliff where there's open space
11:17to nest.
11:20Within the colony, each pair has its own nest site.
11:24Fearship is loudly and sometimes painfully pointed out to each homecoming bird.
11:38Apart from being at the top of a cliff, the nests are unprotected.
11:43While adults are safe up here, there are killers after their eggs.
11:51Skuas, an attack at the center of a colony is met by a tight wall of angry beaks.
12:05At the edge of the colony, the nests are more exposed.
12:14Skuas work in pairs.
12:20One distracts, the other waits for the right moment to strike.
12:45Penguins that lose their eggs abandon their nests.
12:49This small colony will shrink, exposing even more eggs to the skuas.
13:01Before the season is over, all the nests here will probably be empty.
13:07Nearby, some rockhoppers have found a way to protect their eggs.
13:13They nest among a colony of blue-eyed king cormorants.
13:20The rockhoppers accept the cormorants as substitute penguins, and together they form a larger,
13:26safer colony.
13:31But avoiding predators is not always the critical factor in choosing a nesting site.
13:37Some face a greater threat from the heat of the sun.
13:44On the other side of the Pacific, the surf pounds the east coast of New Zealand.
13:50Here one of the rarest penguins in the world spends the summer in temperatures reaching
13:5590 degrees.
14:00All penguins are protected from the cold sea by a survival suit of feathers.
14:13But their feathers don't change with the weather.
14:16The warmer it gets, the more they're in danger of overheating when they come ashore.
14:24These penguins walk inland to find shelter from the heat.
14:28For some, it's a slow, waddling journey of up to a mile.
14:36Yellow-eyed penguins are unique.
14:37Unlike others, they seek solitary nest sites.
14:54Even for privacy, they seek the welcoming shelter of a cool coastal forest to nest
14:59in the shade of overhanging bushes and trees.
15:06Suitable sites are usually far apart, so pairs don't nest within sight of each other.
15:14They are not fond of crowds, but yellow-eyed pairs are devoted to each other and to their
15:19nests.
15:27This need for seclusion has made them vulnerable.
15:30Their cool forest homes are disappearing.
15:50Most of New Zealand's native coastal forest has been cleared.
15:59Today, yellow-eyed penguins come ashore to find a shocking change.
16:09Their breeding areas have been turned into pasture for grazing sheep.
16:19The penguins have been forced to nest in the open.
16:22In 40 years, more than three-quarters of the nesting pairs have disappeared from New
16:27Zealand.
16:32Fewer than 2,000 survive.
16:34The yellow-eyed is one of the most endangered penguins in the world.
16:52Closer to the equator on the coasts of Peru and Chile, the sun beats down on a desert
16:58landscape.
17:01Yet even here there are penguins.
17:08Humboldt penguins have bare patches on their faces to help excess heat escape from their
17:13bodies.
17:19On this land without trees, there are only two ways to avoid the midday heat, which can
17:24exceed 100 degrees.
17:28You can leave very early in the morning and go fishing in the cool sea.
17:36Or if you must stay behind to care for eggs, you need a cool burrow dug into the cliff
17:42face.
17:48For Humboldt penguins ashore, the days pass like a long siesta.
17:58And those at sea are in no hurry to return.
18:02They're content to drift in large rafts, waiting until the cool of evening before stepping
18:07back on land.
18:18Another penguin steps out to more of a nightlife.
18:22In New Zealand and South Australia, the world's smallest penguins, called little blues or
18:27fairy penguins, come ashore only when it's completely dark.
18:37Where they choose to land is often close to us and the hazards we impose.
18:51They prefer caves and burrows for nest sites, but they're not all that choosy about the
18:55neighborhood.
19:09And they don't mind sharing with the people upstairs.
19:18To prepare for breeding, little blues began with extensive housework.
19:26They re-excavate burrows, tidy nests, and reacquaint themselves with their partners.
19:39They sing nightly love songs, which often keep the neighbors awake.
19:49Little blues have adjusted to modern inconveniences, but some penguins need places that never seem
19:55to change.
19:59Snares Island, south of New Zealand, is so remote it remains untouched by the outside
20:04world.
20:05A society of snares-crested penguins continues their traditional way of life here undisturbed.
20:20They shelter in the strange, twisted branches of tree-sized daisies, bent and contorted
20:26by the ferocious winds that sweep the island.
20:32Occasionally, one sits in the branches, as though for a moment it was just a bird in
20:38a tree.
20:45When it's time to nest, the males begin in the usual way, with a fight.
21:12They're at it long before the females have arrived.
21:25In early spring, the females are still at sea, on the way back from winter feeding grounds.
21:40Even as they scale the rocky slopes that lead to their colonies, the males are still
21:45disputing territory.
21:57They are fighting for much more than a patch of mud.
22:00The victors will also win the favors of the approaching females.
22:10In contrast to the pandemonium among the males, the females approach the moment of
22:15breeding with order and decorum.
22:29Each one looks for a male with a good nest site.
22:35Most arrivals ignore many puffed-up chests before selecting their spouse of the season.
22:44Then they celebrate their choice and seal the bond.
22:55Fights are usually won by males with bigger bills.
22:58These winners breed early and produce more chicks, passing on the trait to their young.
23:14So among snares penguins, the male bills are about 20% larger than the females.
23:21It's the most pronounced sex difference for any penguin.
23:32Time for fighting is a luxury not all penguins can afford.
23:46Many penguins arrive at Ross Island after a long migration among icebergs.
23:51They may have traveled more than 3,000 miles on this perilous journey.
23:56More than a quarter of them don't make it.
24:04Like waders in a fluster, they scurry off to breeding colonies that will be snow-free
24:09for only a short time.
24:13Both males and females arrive together.
24:16There's no time to lose, so Adeles have evolved a strategy which enables them to breed both
24:21quickly and efficiently.
24:24A newly returned male will gather stones to line last year's nests.
24:46A good Adele father is one capable of carrying four eggs on his own for weeks if necessary.
24:53To do this, he must now be at his portly best.
25:00The females too will return to their old nests, but if there's no one there, they will quickly
25:05choose a new mate.
25:09What they look for in a new male is a strong, baritone voice.
25:25The bigger and fatter the male penguin, the deeper his call.
25:34If she doesn't like what she hears, she'll keep on searching.
25:58The best singers find mates quickly, for in the race to complete the breeding cycle before
26:03winter, delay could mean death to the chicks.
26:12Some males find a new partner too quickly.
26:14A late returning female can find last year's mate sharing the nest with someone else, but
26:20not for long.
26:29In Adeles, the females do the fighting, driving the interlopers away.
26:42Once the eggs are laid, the lower-voiced males show their worth.
26:46Their extra fat means they can go without food for the entire time the females are away
26:51at sea.
26:55A male may starve for a month, first during courtship, then up to three weeks of sitting
27:01on his eggs.
27:07Males who are not fat enough simply can't do the job and will have to desert the eggs.
27:25It's spring on the coasts of southern South America.
27:40These are Magellanic penguins, named after the Straits of Magellan.
27:54Instead of looking for a new mate, they too try to save time by sticking with a proven
27:59partner.
28:12They find each other by going back to last year's burrow.
28:18They navigate unerringly from far across the ocean to the right burrow above the right
28:24beach.
28:27Females arrive to find males already in residence and calling for them.
28:40Their donkey-like prey has earned them the South American nickname of jackass penguins.
28:46Each call is as distinct as a fingerprint.
28:49It's how a female recognizes her mate.
28:53Having reunited, the pair renews their commitment to each other with an elaborate greeting,
28:59which includes bill dueling.
29:06These displays are complex.
29:08They stimulate, appease, and at the same time contain elements of aggression.
29:13More importantly, by releasing hormones, they help synchronize the breeding patterns
29:18of the two birds.
29:43Those who found a partner turn their attention back to the burrow, gathering grass to reline
30:08it.
30:13The grass helps insulate the eggs from the cold, damp earth.
30:17The male works hard to furnish the nest before he departs.
30:30Unlike an Adele male, he won't have to fast for a month.
30:35The female will incubate the eggs first while he goes to sea.
30:56Maintaining a burrow season after season makes the job easier for Magellanic penguins, but
31:02for some penguins, a permanent nest is just not possible.
31:09Just north of the Antarctic Circle, where Gentoo penguins nest, the tussock grass gets
31:14trampled and fouled, forcing the colony to find new nest sites each year.
31:24But even without a permanent nest site, partners remain faithful to each other.
31:41The nest is lined with tussock from some distance away, and from what's left nearby.
31:56For Gentoo's, nest sites aren't used as meeting places at the beginning of the breeding season.
32:01The birds remain here all year round.
32:07There's plenty of food in the nearby coastal waters, and they don't have to migrate during
32:12winter.
32:19Homecoming birds return to their partners and their nests every day of the year.
32:27Each year, a pair becomes more and more practiced at working together, and they can rear more
32:32chicks.
32:45The strength of their bond is reinforced daily by elaborate and enthusiastic greetings.
33:00When the chicks hatch, all penguin parents have to face a new challenge.
33:05The chicks are in one world, their food in another.
33:11Over the next two months, Gentoo's will take turns at the nest, and with food close by,
33:17they'll probably raise two healthy chicks.
33:33In tougher places, penguins have devised other means to ensure their survival.
33:45Farther south on the island of South Georgia, Gentoo's share their territory with much larger
33:51king penguins.
33:54The breeding strategy of the kings is as distinct as their color.
33:58They grow to about three feet high and weigh as much as three Gentoo's.
34:07Even their chicks are large.
34:08A breeding pair could never hope to raise two of these fluffy giants, so they never
34:14attempt it.
34:16Their breeding methods make the colonies of kings unlike those of any other penguin.
34:23They're crowded like other colonies, but what's unique is the ages of their offspring.
34:33The bulge under this penguin indicates that an egg has already been laid.
34:40They incubate the egg between their feet and their bellies, so there's no need for
34:44a nest, but they do have territories and squabble constantly to defend their personal space.
35:04Alongside birds with eggs are almost fully grown chicks.
35:08In the same colony, there are two different breeding cycles.
35:20The big chicks belong to late breeders from last summer.
35:23Soon, they will fledge and go to sea.
35:29Adults that have completed breeding then undergo the other business that ties penguins to the
35:34land, molting.
35:39For three weeks, they must stay ashore as their old feathers grow out and new ones grow
35:44in.
35:51The short feathers lock together tightly with microscopic hooks, so penguins, wherever they
35:57live, can maintain the same body temperature in the sea as on the land.
36:06As the first snows of winter arrive, late breeding kings leave the colony and depart
36:11for faraway feeding grounds, leaving their late chicks completely on their own.
36:25Through the depths of the sub-Antarctic winter, chicks wait for their parents' return, with
36:30only the fat around their bellies to sustain them.
36:50During this time, adults range for thousands of miles across the ocean, searching for food.
36:58A chick's fast may last five months.
37:01Finally, in the spring, its plump, well-fed parent returns.
37:46The king penguin's breeding strategy is unusual but logical.
38:01By raising two chicks over three years, they've found a way to adapt their breeding to the
38:07availability of food.
38:14There's only enough to feed one chick at a time, so they only lay a single egg.
38:23They've solved the problem of survival on limited means, to the enormous success of
38:28the colony.
38:32But there's a whole other group that has opted for a bizarre approach to chick raising.
38:39The South Island of New Zealand is not really cold, but it's damp.
38:46And nesting here are the northernmost of the crested penguin species.
38:52Fjordland crested penguins also find only enough fish to feed one chick, yet they always
38:58lay two eggs, and a month later there are two healthy chicks.
39:03But one is little more than an insurance policy.
39:17Unlike other penguins where parents share feeding duties, the female goes to sea and
39:23brings back food while the male stands guard.
39:38But even a well-coordinated effort by two parents can't protect the chicks from cruel
39:43reality.
39:44One won't survive.
39:48It's not predetermined, there's no prejudice.
39:51The female simply feeds the nearest begging mouth, but the larger, first-hatched chick
39:56usually pushes its young sibling out of the way.
39:59Eventually, the smaller one will weaken and die.
40:07Other penguins take this strange breeding strategy a step further.
40:11Fjordland crested penguins gather in large breeding colonies on a few islands south of
40:16New Zealand.
40:24Because of their isolation, they're the least studied of all penguins and in some ways the
40:29most mysterious.
40:43These birds also lay two eggs, but the first is very small and is often knocked out of
40:49the nest to become a meal for skuas.
40:54These may seem to be a terrible waste, but perhaps they can't switch off a genetic program
40:59which compels them to lay two eggs, even though each pair can only hope to raise one
41:29Starvation is seldom a problem in Antarctica, where Adelie parents can often raise a pair
41:42of chicks in a season.
41:46Once they're two to three weeks old, they're so big that both parents need to commute constantly
41:52to and from the sea to feed them.
41:55These are the fastest growing penguins with appetites to match.
42:02Now they're old enough to spend the day gathered together in creches.
42:17In the race to fledge their chicks before the onset of winter, the parents can't afford
42:21to stop, and their duties can bring them in harm's way.
42:40A leopard seal hunts the shore, looking for penguins to eat.
42:59To feed their chicks, they run this deadly gauntlet twice a day.
43:18Having evaded one hungry creature, they come home to another.
43:24As each adult approaches the creche it calls, the chick answers immediately and sprints
43:30towards its long-awaited meal.
43:35The begging is insistent, and if a parent has two chicks, it seems overwhelming.
43:41In fact, it's a parental ploy to divide the food by making them run for it.
43:54The chick that's fed first stops chasing, so the less dominant one can feed two.
44:04Chicks continue to grow at a tremendous rate, and three weeks later, they are transformed.
44:10The Adeles have done it.
44:12The chicks are now ready to leave the colony.
44:30Autumn doesn't signal the end of breeding for all penguins.
44:33The freezing surface of the Antarctic Sea marks just the beginning of the most fantastic
44:39penguin story of all.
44:54Emperor penguins, the world's largest, they hunt to depths of 1,000 feet, deeper than
45:00any other penguin.
45:07Once ashore, however, their behavior is even more extreme.
45:11Many have just swum 1,000 miles to get here.
45:15Now they will battle polar winds which scream at up to 120 miles an hour, conditions that
45:22would kill most animals in minutes.
45:49The colony's end for this group is Cape Crozier on Ross Island.
45:53Just 700 miles from the South Pole, it is the most southern of their winter breeding
45:58sites.
46:07They haven't seen their partners for months, but there are no nest sites for a rendezvous
46:11here.
46:13This ice was open ocean just a few weeks ago.
46:20Sometimes they hear a familiar call in the crowd and may meet up with a previous partner.
46:26But emperors are not very faithful, which can lead to misunderstandings.
46:32Even their fights are conducted with imperial restraint.
46:35They can't afford to waste energy or fat.
46:42The rippling of chest blubber is a good sign.
46:45Females are looking for a partner who's big and fat.
46:53For the emperors, it's especially important that a male has a fat belly now.
46:58His next meal is likely to be more than three months away.
47:09Emperors have abandoned territories.
47:11They tolerate touching each other so they can huddle together to keep warm in the coldest
47:16Antarctic blizzards.
47:27An emperor female lays a single egg, which will be carried on the feet of her mate through
47:32the depths of winter.
47:33And during all this time, he will be without food.
47:41It's a task no other bird could accomplish.
47:43And even among emperors, the smallest males are unable to go the distance.
47:54As winter approaches, the females leave for the nearest open water, several days' march
48:00away.
48:08They won't be back till spring.
48:38Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth.
48:40Relying only on their feathers, their fat, and the warmth of their neighbors, the males
48:45huddle together in total darkness.
48:48In the unthinkable cold of minus 120 degrees, these remarkable penguins maintain their eggs
48:56at the same temperature as our bodies.
49:03The colony is in constant motion.
49:10Birds exposed to the icy wind move to shelter in its lee.
49:15Everyone takes their turn on the edge.
49:20Finally, brilliantly, the sun.
49:31At first, for just a few minutes each day, but spring has arrived.
49:39With the coming of the light, come new responsibilities for the males.
49:45It's three months since they last fed themselves, but now they are required to feed others.
49:52Astonishingly, a starving father at the end of his reserves can produce a special milk
50:00for his chick by breaking down his own body tissue.
50:06And then, like the cavalry, the plump females appear in the distance, just in the nick of
50:12time.
50:20Each is guided to her mate by following his answer to her call.
50:30Down to his last, the male will soon be able to refuel at sea.
50:35But first, he transfers his precious cargo to the feet of his eager partner.
50:57Mission safely accomplished.
51:00The chicks stay warm under their parents' brooding patch, but they're not always safe.
51:11Even the long-fasting emperors have their limits.
51:14They won't starve to death for their chicks.
51:17If their partner is too late returning, they must look to their own survival and abandon
51:22their chick.
51:29A female returning too late from the sea attempts in vain to brood a lifeless chick.
51:40But most chicks grow rapidly to full size.
51:43All they need is a little luck and a lot of food.
51:51As spring advances, the ice will break up beneath the colony and the chicks will be
51:55abandoned to find their own way to sea.
52:04This moment seems to come far too early.
52:06Though the sea is soon to be their home, their first encounter is a frightening one.
52:13Some hitch a ride with the deli penguins on an ice floe.
52:17They'll complete their development out on the shrinking pack ice.
52:27Their parents too have completed their annual appointment on land and now eagerly return
52:33to their real home.
52:38Finally, they can luxuriate in the domain that shaped them, where every penguin lives
52:45They're like an emperor, where real penguins belong.
52:55To learn more about what you've seen on this nature program, visit PBS online at PBS.org
53:02or America Online, keyword PBS.