March of the Penguins

I recently watched the March of the Penguins on DVD. The film follows the journey of Emperor penguins as they trek through the Antartica Ice desert in the winter in order to mate. The film is magnificent in capturing this journey and it deeply touched me.

The penguins travel long and hard through the blizzard to the place they were born. There they find their mate and lay their egg. After the female has laid the egg - it is carefully transferred to the male for safekeeping (nested between their fun and their feet). The females then head back to the water miles away after weeks without nourishment to get food for themselves and their chicks. The males are left to brace the winter cold without food to keep the eggs safe until their return.

The image above is one that stayed with me. It is a photo of the male penguins all huddled together to brace the winter blizzards - carefull to keep their eggs warm tucked in their legs. (If the egg fall out, the cold hard ice would kill the egg instantly). After two months without food, the eggs start to hatch. The father and chick then wait for the mother to come back with food.

Once the females return the males would transfer the chick back to the mother and they will trek out to the ocean to get food for themselves. It's a beautiful story of love, which we can all learn from.