The documentary 'March of the Penguins' traces the steps of emperor penguins during the course of a year, as they undergo repeated, harrowing marches back and forth across the Antarctic icescape. In the midst of these journeys, if successful, the penguins will pair off, mate, and raise their young, all in the darkest, coldest place on earth.
About the Film
Luc Jacquet, a former ecologist, directs the film which is presented by Warner Independent Pictures and National Geographic Feature Films. It took him and his crew 13 months to capture this story of the penguin's life cycle. Morgan Freeman narrates the film, his rich voice brings a warmth to images of ice and Antarctic darkness. The dedication and determination of the film crew infiltrates the film. 'March of the Penguins' is a stunning, moving documentary that captures the beauty, fragility, and complexity of life and love, at the end of the Earth.
The Life Cycle of the Emperor Penguin
The story of the emperor penguin is nothing short of remarkable. The coastal Antarctic water that provides the penguins' only food source is also home to predators that make breeding in areas near the coast too risky for the penguins. So each winter, the emperor penguins gather and march single-file, seventy miles inland, where they breed, far from predators, in the darkest, coldest place on earth (Source: Doan).
The penguins march one-by-one in a long line of swaying, wobbling silhouettes against a landscape entombed in ice. When they arrive at their breeding ground, the penguins pair off and mate. Females lay one egg each and they soon hand off the eggs to the males who incubate them in brood pouches formed by the base if the belly and the tops of the feet. Females return to the sea where they must feed to replenish their body weight, much reduced after producing the egg (Source: Doan).
The males stay at the rookery where, without food, they face the planet's fiercest winter. Temperatures can descend to -100F and winds can reach 100MPH. After two months, eggs begin to hatch. The females return, fattened after feeding and ready to both meet and feed their newborn young for the first time. The males then make the march to the coast to feed. The parents alternate trips to the coastal feeding waters seven times. With each journey they bring back much needed food to their chick. When winter finally passes and the chicks have matured, the parents and their young venture to the sea for the summer (Source: Doan).
Sources:
- Doan, R. 2004. 'Life Cycle of the Emperor Penguin' (On-line). Accessed July 09, 2005.
- Eisman, J. 1999. 'Aptenodytes forsteri' (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed June 09, 2005.
