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Go Inside an Antarctic 'City' of 400,000 King Penguins — Ep. 4 | Wildlife: Resurrection Island


4m read
·Nov 11, 2024

In one of the world's largest King penguin colonies, chicks must be able to make it through the winter without food. This chick can expect one of three fates: be eaten alive, starve to death, or hang on one more day until their parents return with food to cool their bellies.

Her host, how is it possible that life can come back from the dead? The island of South Georgia was the scene of one of the worst wildlife massacres in history, with species driven to near extinction. The whaling stations were abandoned. This is an all-inspiring story of how, if given the chance, Nature can bounce back on a scale you're not going to believe. My name's Bertie Gregory, and I'm their National Geographic wildlife filmmaker. This is Resurrection Island.

Less than a hundred years ago, the Penguins of South Georgia were being used as kindling for whaling station fires. But now, we finally made it to Sandy Bay, you know, the busiest beach on the planet. It's funny when you read about king penguins on paper; you know you've read they dive to 300 meters, 1,000 feet, and some of the roughest ocean in the world.

And then they come back to hear this kind of blizzard, snow-covered mountainous island to breed, and you meet them, and they're just totally unfazed. Hello! Some of these adults might not have set foot on land for five months to see their chicks. And with a belly full of fish, that's no easy task. The worst part is over—just a nice stroll to find the kids. Great! A blubbery roadblock of elephants! Ready?

[Applause] [Music]

400,000 king penguins! Hoping my hometown has less people than that! In a way, so it's like a city. Look, it looks to start with like just a mass sprawl of penguins, but it's almost organized. I mean, you've got that big swimming pool in the middle—prime swimming for a little wash when you're all stinky.

Then on the left, there's a bunch missing a load of feathers there, and there are the posters of molting. So in our city comparison, I guess we could say that was the hospital. And then starts a little bit of movement; I guess that's their highways through the colony. And then the biggest supermarket in the world—packed for the lantern fish, which is their primary prey here.

But my favorite part is the crash when the chicks, five weeks old, their parents leave them in a kindergarten. Food becomes scarce during the winter, so both of the parents have to go out into the open ocean to hunt. Depending on their luck, they might not return for months. So what do you do when mum and dad aren't home? Head up to no good, of course!

[Music]

They just have the most amazing fluffy coats. I think with kid reason, the adults take every year to raise the chick, so the chick has to sit here during the Austral—the Antarctic winter. So imagine sitting here in blizzards and ice and snow, waiting for mom and dad to bring your food. I mean, I can’t feel my fingers, so I kind of wish I was in this coat right now.

The parents’ absence and the brutal weather conditions make the chicks vulnerable, and that's what the giant petrels are here for.

[Music]

Giant petrels hunt king penguin chicks by spotting a weak one that strayed away from the crash.

[Music]

Luckily this time, they have strength in numbers, and the giant petrel can't single one out.

[Music]

Finally home! Each adult calls their chick. I think the chicks are like, "Alright, enough with the showing off; now give me some food." Scientists actually found that towards the end of the foraging trips, the bellies of the Penguins dropped significantly below 37 degrees, which is their normal body temperature.

So they think it's almost like a cool box in their belly to keep the fish fresh and now to regurgitate it for the chick.

[Applause]

Are you totally sold? Food come out—that's what a bit gross now! That the chicks have had a few mouthfuls, the adults need to go back to the ocean and start again. If only it were as easy as that!

They must negotiate a long line of pecky adults protecting their eggs.

[Music]

A high-standard, the devil—that's brilliant! One awesome taxi fare must've had together, and the one behind is easy; the one in front of the shield—the felons getting absolutely hammered from the back.

Watch—actually, no, the back one's getting hammered! It's a rubbish tactic.

[Music]

And there they go, back out to sea, off to get another belly full of fish for their chick. And to think that, you know, such a clumsy bird on land can then dive to 300 meters, a thousand feet, is pretty spectacular.

[Applause] [Music]

Its fight is just unbelievable. In 1925, just 1,100 king penguins were counted here, and now there are over 400,000. This is what happens when environmental conditions are right and you protect a place. And if this isn't justification for looking after wild places, then I do not know what is.

[Music] [Music]

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