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Travel & Night Sky Photography from Sundar & Sheila

Among the Emperor Penguins of Antarctica — February 5

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by

Sundar Raman
in

Seeing Emperor Penguins in Antarctica is an extraordinary privilege for Antarctic travelers. These remarkable birds live and breed on remote sea ice and ice shelves that are often difficult—or impossible—to reach. Even our expedition leader, after 26 seasons in Antarctica, had never seen this colony before. When another National Geographic ship alerted our captain to its location, our expedition team made the careful decision to push through the sea ice for the chance to reach it. Their experience, judgment, and determination gave us one of the rarest and most unforgettable wildlife encounters of the journey.

Emperor Penguins in Antarctica
Emperors are the largest of all penguin species, often standing 3 to 4 feet tall.
These two chicks seemed inseparable, spending our entire visit to the colony side by side
Small against the giants: a lone penguin reveals the epic scale of
Antarctica’s massive ice formations.
Chicks gathered near the edge of the ice sheet as our Zodiac arrived to pick us up.
An Emperor Penguin creche—a penguin nursery. Two adults kept watch over more than 20 chicks while their parents foraged at sea, Huddling together helps the chicks conserve warmth in the Antarctic cold.
Some penguins were wonderfully curious, edging closer and closer until the expedition team repeatedly asked us to move back.

Emperor Penguin Moments

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Busy on an important mission.
A chick faithfully following its parent.

Four brief moments from an unforgettable encounter with Emperor Penguins.

As we boarded the Zodiac for the return to our ship, one chick in the water kept swimming toward us—as if it wanted a ride.
While I filmed the moment, National Geographic Expeditions photographer Nathan Kelley captured this wonderful image and kindly shared it with us.

Photo: Nathan Kelley / National Geographic Expeditions

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