Andy Rouse's aerial photographs of an enormous King penguin colony in South Georgia in the Falkland Islands shows how the adult birds care for their chicks. In the photo above, you can see a line of brown chicks along the river, where the youngsters rinse off as moulting causes them to itch. Other chicks are huddled into creches, watched over by adult birds...
Picture: Andy Rouse / Rex Features
...This aerial photograph gives an idea of the size of the colony. You can see tens of thousands of King penguins, with their brown chicks corralled into vast creches...
Picture: Andy Rouse / Rex Features
...After hatching, chicks are cared for by both parents for 30 to 40 days. At this time they join a crèche for warmth and protection from predators and the parents return to sea to feed, taking turns to bring food to the chicks every other day. The chick will grow a warm brown fluffy down of feathers and a thick layer of blubber to keep them warm during the winter months ahead. They will huddle in their crèches during the cold weather while the parents occasionally come onshore to feed them. In the spring the parents come back and start feeding the chicks again. At this time, the chicks starts to grow their adult feathers and are ready to go off on their own.
Picture: Andy Rouse / Rex Features
Are they typically predatorial?
