Where do emperor penguins live?

This map shows the locations of the known emperor penguin colonies in 2020.

These colonies were seen on satellite imagery or by researchers working in Antarctica.

This map shows the continent of Antarctica, with the great Antarctic Ice Sheet in white. The solid grey line is the limit of the ice sheet; this is the ‘grounding line’. Ice beyond here is floating.

Around Antarctica, beyond the grounding line, in orange, are the floating ice shelves. Ice shelves are the floating extensions of glaciers on land, and are made from snow fall and from ice flowing into them from on land.

All around Antarctica is the seasonally frozen sea ice (frozen sea water). Shown here is the winter sea ice maximum extent, from September 2019.

The red dots show the location of the penguin colonies in 2020.

Click on the map to interact with it. You can zoom in and out, and pan around using the mouse. Click the house icon to return to the full extent. Click on the red dots representing penguin colonies to bring up a pop-up with some information.

You can also bring up the legend or key (the icon with the triangle, square and circle with a line next to each).

1. Describe the pattern of the colonies on the map
2. Can you suggest why the colonies are located at the land/sea ice boundary?
3. Are any colonies located on ice shelves? Why do you think this is?

Emperor penguins breed in the peak of the Antarctic winter. They choose areas with lots of stable, firm sea ice, so that the risk of losing their habitat as the sea ice melts in the summer is lessened.

Penguins take turns to travel from their colonies across the sea ice to the open water. They walk and slide across the sea ice on their stomachs. In some places, the sea ice may be broken up, allowing them to swim for part of their journey. 

Use the measuring tool (the icon that looks like a ruler) in the map to measure the shortest distance from different colonies to the edge of the winter sea ice.

1. What is the shortest distance from a penguin colony to the outer edge of the sea ice?  
2. Which colony is furthest from open water?
3. Open Google Earth and find your school. For your answers to Questions 1 and 2, locate a destination that is the same distance from your school.
4. Can you find the Dawson Colony on the map? Hint: it is located at the bottom of the Riiser-Larsen Ice Shelf. The colony is named after the Dawson-Lambton glacier they live next to.

The largest colony has 25,298 individuals. That’s more than the O2 Arena holds! 

1. Use the map to find out the name of the largest colony.
2. What is the population of Dawson colony? Use the map to find out.
3. Suggest why some areas have much larger colonies than others?
4. Apart from a few very large colonies, suggest why there is a relatively even distribution of colony sizes around Antarctica.