a soft ball or toy (this is the emperor penguin egg)
What to do
Stand facing you partner a few metres apart with your hands by your sides and feet together.
Place the soft ball or toy (penguin egg) on the tops of your feet so it sits there, balanced nicely.
Waddle towards your partner as they waddle towards you, keeping the egg precariously perched on your feet.
Now is the tricky bit! You have to pass the egg to your partner, WITHOUT the egg touching the ground. If the egg touches the ground and stays there, it will die, argghh!
You may want to practice a bit, it is a tricky thing to do and you want your egg to survive so it will hatch as a penguin chick.
What's happening?
Emperor penguins are the biggest penguins in the world and stand at around a massive metre tall. They call Antarctica home and can live to be 20 years old.
They are amazing birds as they breed in winter (think very cold). They travel around 90 km to reach their inland breeding sites where there is no food, and the temperature can be as low as minus 40 degrees!
Here they find a mate, and after mating, the female penguin lays just one egg. After the effort, her nutritional reserves are very low. She gives the egg to the male to look after, so she can return to the sea to feed.
The female transfers the egg by rolling it from her warm underbelly and the tops of her feet to the top of the male's feet. If the egg touches the icy ground, it will freeze and die. As you found out in this activity, this can be tricky and penguin pairs practice the move beforehand to get it right.
The male keeps the egg warm with a toasty layer of feathered skin, his brood pouch, while he eats nothing, surviving on the reserves of food in his belly and his body fat. To survive the cold and the wind, he huddles with the other males, taking turns at being in the middle for warmth.
After a couple of months, the female returns and the male passes the egg back to her, and he walks for days to the ocean to feed. If the chick hatches before the mother's return, the father sits the chick on his feet and covers it with his pouch, feeding it a white milky substance produced by a gland in his throat.
Usually the chick hatches when mum is back and it sits in the warmth of the female's underbelly for another two months. It is cosy in there, but if it falls out, it can die in the cold in a short two minutes.
The chick grows quickly and the male and female take turns in going back to the sea to find food that they bring back to feed the chick. The journey to the sea can take a long time, so the male and female only manage around 16 meals between them in the five months of breeding season.
Eventually, in December (about now), they all return to the sea. The parents can now fledge their chicks during summer when the weather is warmer and food is abundant.
Thanks to Amanda McKenzie from Questacon Smart Moves for this activity!
