Q 01/05

How does a male emperor penguin feed himself during the two months he spends incubating an egg on his feet?

A) He fasts completely

B) He eats cached fish

C) His mate brings krill

D) He licks ice algae

Answer · why

A) He fasts completely

He fasts completely: counting the trek and courtship, a father goes about 120 days without food and can lose more than a third of his body weight befo...

Q 02/05

Male emperor penguins feed hatchlings a milk-like secretion, a trick shared only with pigeons and which birds?

A) Ostriches

B) Pelicans

C) Flamingos

D) Albatrosses

Answer · why

C) Flamingos

Flamingos and pigeons are the only other birds that make crop milk. A father can produce it for just a few days, which keeps the chick alive until its...

Q 03/05

An emperor penguin that swam to New Zealand in 2011 fell ill after eating what, apparently mistaking it for snow?

A) Kelp

B) Sand

C) Foam

D) Litter

Answer · why

B) Sand

Sand, about 3 kg of it, had to be removed in several operations. Named after an animated film, the bird was nursed at a zoo for ten weeks and then rel...

Q 04/05

With no nest to return to, how does a female emperor penguin find her mate among hundreds of similar males?

A) By his scent

B) By his head markings

C) By his spot in line

D) By his call

Answer · why

D) By his call

By his call alone: with no fixed nests to meet at, emperors rely purely on voice, and their calls vary more from bird to bird than those of any other ...

Q 05/05

What provides 80 to 90 percent of an emperor penguin's insulation against the bitter Antarctic cold?

A) Dense feathers

B) A blubber layer

C) Tough oily skin

D) Constant shivering

Answer · why

A) Dense feathers

Dense feathers do most of the work, not fat: muscles hold them erect on land to trap a layer of warm air, then flatten them in the water to seal the s...