Minnesotarctica

The other night I watched the National Geographic documentary March of the Penguins.

This is what I learned.

Every year around March (the beginning of winter in Antarctica), a thousand emperor penguins jump out of the ocean onto the mainland and waddle 70 miles inland in order to breed (apparently these penguins are very shy).



As soon as the female lays her egg, she must balance it on her feet and cover it within seconds, or the egg will freeze, killing the chick inside.

Because there is no source of food or water in the mainland of Antarctica, the females have to eventually leave their eggs and return to the ocean. But because the egg cannot be exposed to the elements, they must pass it to the males without letting it touch the ground (they kind of roll it off from one set of feet to the other).



While the females make the long march back to the ocean, the males huddle together to protect the eggs from harshest days of winter, with temperatures that drop to 80 degrees below before factoring in the wind, which gusts up to 100 mph.



Well, after carting around a different variety of eggs back and forth across the Market Place parking lot on Friday night, all I can say is those penguins ain't got nothing on me.