First penguins spawn in China

Nanjing City has just entered history as the first spawning site for emperor penguins in captivity.

A penguin spawns in Nanjing Ocean Park, Jiangsu Province on February 9. Dou Luqiang, an employee here said: 'At about 9am, we saw some blood stains on the floor while cleaning the penguin cages. Then we discovered Donggua, a female penguin that laid an egg '.

After laying, the female bird delivers the egg to the father and the male penguin will stand for incubation for 60 days and will not eat or drink anything. It only leaves the position when the baby bird comes out of the egg. The staff in the park prepared everything to welcome the baby penguin, expected to be born in mid-April.

An emperor penguin family.Photo: National Geographic.

Emperor penguins are one of the great penguins in Antarctica. Their characteristic signs are yellow and orange feathers on their necks. Their body length is about 100-130 cm. Males weigh 22-40 kg, females weigh 20-32 kg. Emperor penguins are real sea bullets - they can plunge down to a depth of 500 meters to catch food, hold their breath for up to 22 minutes. This allows them to take advantage of the resources that other birds do not reach.

This bird never gets wet. Their outer coat is flat, covered with oil and waterproof. There is a gap between this feather and the skin that water never gets in, keeping the emperor penguin from turning into ice in the Antarctic sea.

In most penguins, males are very aggressive in competing for territory. But the emperor penguin is an exception. They huddled together in a crowded group, able to crowd thousands of individuals while still taking care of eggs. The largest flock that people have ever seen on Coulman Island in the Ross Sea has 25,000 males. Standing close together helps them keep their body warm.