in one of the world’s largest King
penguin colonies chicks must be able to
make it through the winter without food
this chick can expect one of three
faiths be eaten alive starve to death or
hang on one more day until their parents
return with food to cool their bellies
her host
how is it possible that life can come
back from the dead the island of South
Georgia was the scene of one of the
worst wildlife massacres in history
species driven to near extinction the
whaling stations were abandoned this is
an all inspiring story of how if given
the chance Nature can bounce back on a
scale you’re not going to believe
my name’s Bertie Gregory and I’m their
National Geographic wildlife filmmaker
this is Resurrection Island less than a
hundred years ago the Penguins of South
Georgia were being used as kindling for
whaling station fires but now
we finally made it to Sandy Bay you know
the busiest beach on the planet it’s
funny when you read about king penguins
on paper you know you’ve read they dive
to 300 meters 1,000 feet and some of the
roughest ocean in the world and then
they come back to hear this kind of
blizzard snow-covered mountainous island
to breed and you meet them and they’re
just totally unfazed hello some of these
adults might not have set foot on land
for five months to see their chicks and
with a belly full of fish that’s no easy
task
the worst part is over just a nice
stroll to find the kids great a blubbery
roadblock of elephants ready
[Applause]
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400,000 king penguins hoping my hometown
has less people than that
in a way so it’s like a city look it
looks to start with like just a mass
sprawl of penguins but it’s almost
organized I mean you’ve got that big
swimming pool in the middle prime
swimming for a little wash when you’re
all stinky then on the left there’s a
bunch missing a load of feathers there
and there are the posters of molting so
in our city comparison I guess we could
say that was the hospital
and then starts a little bit of movement
I guess that’s their highways through
the Colby and then the biggest
supermarket in the world packed for the
lantern fish which is their primary prey
here but my favorite part is the crash
when the chicks of five weeks old their
parents leave them in a kindergarten
food becomes scarce during the winter so
both of the parents have to go out into
the open ocean to hunt depending on
their luck they might not return for
months so what do you do when mum and
dad aren’t home head up to no good of
course
[Music]
they just have the most amazing fluffy
coats I think with kid reason the adults
take every year to raise the chick so
the chick has to sit here during the
Austral the Antarctic winter
so imagine seeing here in blizzards and
ice and snow waiting for mom and dad to
bring your food I mean I can’t feel my
fingers so I kind of wish I was in this
coat right now the parents habitants and
the brutal weather conditions make the
chicks vulnerable and that’s what the
giant petrels are here for
[Music]
giant petrels hunt king penguin chicks
by spotting a weak one that strayed away
from the crash
[Music]
luckily this time they have strength in
numbers and the giant petrel can’t
single one out
[Music]
finally home each adult calls their
chick
I think the checks like alright enough
with the showing off now give me some
food and scientists actually found that
towards the end of the foraging trips
the bellies of the Penguins dropped
significantly below 37 degrees which is
their normal body temperature and so
they think it’s almost like a cool box
in their belly to keep the fish fresh
and now to regurgitate it from the chick
[Applause]
are you totally soul food come out
that’s what
/ a bit gross now that the chicks have
had a few mouths full the adults need to
go back to the ocean and start again if
only it were as easy as that
they must negotiate a long line of pecky
adults protecting their eggs
[Music]
a high-standard the devil that’s
brilliant
one awesome taxi fare must’ve had
together and the one behind is easy the
one in front of the shield
the felons getting absolutely hammered
for the back watch actually know the
back ones getting hammered – it’s a
rubbish tactic
[Music]
and there they go back out to sea off to
get another belly full of fish to their
chick and to think that you know such a
clumsy bird on land can then dive to 300
meters a thousand feet is pretty
spectacular
[Applause]
[Music]
it’s fight is just unbelievable in 1925
just 1100 king penguins for counted here
and now there are over 400,000 this is
what happens when environmental
conditions are right and you protect a
place and if this isn’t justification
for looking after wild places then I do
not know what is
[Music]
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