The model husband of the animal kingdom, who strictly pursues "monogamy" and raises children in Antarctica at minus 50 ° C, why is the emperor penguin willing to risk his life, not to cheat and not abandon his child?
Although humans practice monogamy, this is not common in the biological world, and only most species of the bird family will remain monogamous like humans. Emperor penguins, as a member of birds, are a model of monogamy.
They are extremely loyal to love and family, and even if the other party dies, the male emperor penguin will take on the role of "single father". However, this is still different from humans, because monogamy does not mean that they have only one mate in their lives, and emperor penguins will still find a mate again in March and April every year to reproduce.
So why can't they practice monogamy for life? This is also due to the environment. Emperor penguins are the only penguin population in the penguin family to live exclusively in the Antarctic polar region, and they have inhabited the cold polar environment all their lives. Although there are few natural predators, the harsh natural environment is the main reason for the death of emperor penguins.
Unlike most birds and other species, emperor penguins choose to breed and hatch in winter. This season is very deadly for all birds, and the extremely cold climate can bring them very harsh life and death tests, and few other species can withstand cold and frost like emperor penguins.
Every April, emperor penguins climb ashore after eating in search of breeding grounds and compete for mates to reproduce. More than a month after arriving at the breeding ground, the female emperor penguin lays an egg and carefully hands it over to her husband. During the handover process between the two sides, once the eggs of the emperor penguins remain on the ice for more than 1 minute, they will freeze to death.
Wait until the male penguin safely rolls the egg to his feet and closes his feet before the female penguin can leave with peace of mind. It has to return more than a hundred kilometers of coastline and go into the sea to feed. When the female penguins rush to the beach desperately, a harsh hurricane will take the lives of some of the female penguins. Even if they make it to the shoreline, there are plenty of seals waiting under the ice to prey on the female penguins.
At this time, male penguins far away in the Arctic hinterland are suffering. Thousands of emperor penguins must cling to each other, leeward, and form an impermeable pile of penguins to withstand cold and hurricanes and maintain body temperature. This period of incubation is close to two months, and all the penguin dads keep their heads down, do not eat or drink, and live on the energy stored in their bodies. In this way, the hatching of the cubs can be guaranteed to the greatest extent.
In July-August, little penguins are born one after another, and at this time the penguin daddy can move his muscles a little. Newborn penguin cubs cannot eat until their mother returns. If he is too hungry, the penguin daddy will regurgitate a white secretion for the child to deal with.
Some lucky little penguins can wait until their mother brings back food, but some little penguin mothers have long died in the process. Little penguins are taken care of by their mothers, and male penguins can run to the beach to feed and replenish energy.
Those who can't wait for their mother to return will also be starved to death, because male penguins have to return to the beach to feed themselves, otherwise they will also starve to death. The hardships of emperor penguin rearing babies exceed those of most animals, and if they were allowed to evolve into lifelong monogamy, they would have been extinct long ago.
Even so, the emperor penguin's sense of responsibility and perseverance to reproduce is admirable. In such a harsh environment, only the emperor penguin couple raise their cubs together, they can improve the survival rate of their offspring. Even survival is difficult, who would think about cheating. #Animals##Penguins##BBC photographers cry in Antarctica##Wonderful animals##Emperor penguins##除了人类以外, what are the animals that basically have no natural predators #
