Emperor penguin chick and parent
 - Aptenodytes forsteri
					
			
Penguin chicks are kept warm and safe under the 
			parents "brood flap" a sort of floppy beer belly of skin, fat and 
			feathers that covers first the egg and then the chick. They are supported 
			beneath by the parents feet that keep them away from the ice. This chick 
			is in the process of being fed by the parent by re-gurgitating some 
			of it's recent meal. The parents take it in turns to protect the chick 
			like this until it is large enough to regulate its own temperature, 
			by which time it is too large to fit under the brood flap anyway.
					
  
					Previous         
					Next 
					
					
					Back to thumbnails
This picture by Jerome Maison. © 2005 Bonne Pioche 
			Productions / Alliance De Production Cinematographique. 
From the 
			Warner Brothers film The March of the Penguins used here by permission 
			of Warner 
			Brothers.