I met and photographed the Emperor of Antarctica yesterday and it was exciting. We were going along between ice flows (various sheets of ice) and I saw some penguins sitting on one of them. That was not unusual but I put my camera up to my eye and I could see one was more than twice as large as the others. THAT one was an Emperor Penguin...the largest, most elusive, and the hardest penguin to see in Antarctica. So I took a bunch of photos, and then went up to the brige (command center of the ship), and told the Captain about what I had seen. He had seen it as well and was slowly turning the ship around, and did so, cautiously approaching the ice flow where the penguins were. The smaller Adelle penguins were all nervous and excited but the Emperor just laid down on his belly and watched us. I took more photos of course, but the first ones of him standing up are far more dramatic, when his height is compared to that of the Adelles. In an earlier post on this blog you can find the average height and weight of various penguins, but as I reall the Emperor is nearly 4 feet tall or more, and can weigh as much as 90 pounds. The Emperors were the star of the wonderful movie, "March of the Penguins," which is worth seeing on DVD if you have not seen it yet. So that was my moment with the Emperor, and I was the only person on the ship that got it photographed standing up, as I was in the right place at the right time. Here is the resulting cropped photo to show the Empero off in all its glory. Enjoy!
