Nearly 700 emperor penguin chicks were filmed taking their first plunge into frigid waters from a daunting 50-foot ice cliff. The breathtaking dive was seen as a crucial rite of passage for the young penguins, marking their very first swim as their parents had already gone to sea, experts said.
The breathtaking footage, which captured a moment that has never been caught on camera before, will be part of the upcoming documentary series called “Secrets of the Penguins.”
Filmed in January this year, the video followed the group of baby penguins as they marched all the way to the edge of the dangerous ice cliff at Atka Bay on the Ekström Ice Shelf in Antarctica, according to National Geographic.
For the first time ever, a camera captured the moment where hundreds of penguins took the leap from a 50-foot ice cliff
Image credits: bertiegregory
Baby emperor penguins normally take their first swim when they are around 6 months old. They huddle together in large groups and hop just a couple of feet into the ocean or simply slip into the water from the snow. However, in the dramatic footage recently captured by Nat Geo Explorer Bertie Gregory, about 700 baby penguins had found themselves at a perilous location and were seen jumping from the 50-foot ice cliff to quell their hunger.
“It’s called fledging, when they take their first swim,” Bertie told Good Morning America.
Bertie was camping on the Antarctic Peninsula and had been tracking the flock of baby penguins for about two months before he witnessed the astonishing moment through the lens of his camera.
When baby penguins take their first swim, “it’s called fledging,” Nat Geo Explorer Bertie Gregory said
Image credits: bertiegregory
“Normally they jump off of sea ice, which is one or two feet high. We were noticing that these trains of chicks were going past to a different place,” he was quoted saying. “So I launched the drone, flew it over there to see what was going on, and realized they were stacking up on the edge of a huge 50-foot ice cliff.”
Bertie’s drone captured the scene where the penguins peered from over the edge of the cliff and hesitatingly looked down at the inviting ocean, sprawling and glistening under the sun about 50 feet away from them.
Finally, one fearless penguin took charge and courageously leaped into the water below.
“One by one they started to jump off this 50-foot ice cliff to take their first swim in the Southern Ocean,” Bertie said.
It may not look like a “fun jump,” but the hungry baby penguins, nevertheless, may have jumped to quell their raging hunger
Image credits: National Geographic
By this point, it is likely that the penguins were extremely hungry after being left behind by their parents, who had already gone off to sea to fish, experts said. Hence, when the baby penguins were on the edge of the cliff, their hunger likely drove them to take the leap even though it may not have looked like a “fun jump.”
“When they get to this cliff face, they’re like, ‘Alright, I see the ocean and I need to get in there,’” said Michelle LaRue, a conservation biologist from New Zealand’s University of Canterbury in Christchurch.
“This does not look like a fun jump, but I guess I’m gonna have to go,” Michelle added.
Bertie’s breathtaking footage captured the penguins appearing hesitant at first before they jumped off the perilous cliff one by one
Image credits: National Geographic
“They were falling and there were big chunks of ice floating in the water beneath them, so it’s like falling onto a chunk of concrete,” Bertie told Good Morning America. “But, to my amazement, they were not just surviving, but popping up and going, ‘I can swim!’ This is their first swim ever, the first swim of their lives.”
In the original video shared by National Geographic, Bertie was heard in the background showing absolute amazement at witnessing a sight that nobody in the world has ever reportedly filmed before.
“I had no idea that the chicks would be able to make such a giant leap,” he said in the video. “And not just survive, but happily swim off together into the Southern Ocean … How’s that for your first swimming lesson?”
“I cannot believe they caught it on film,” said conservation biologist, Michelle LaRue
Image credits: National Geographic
National Geographic stated that scientists do not believe it was climate change that directly led to the cliff-jumping incident captured by Bertie. However, experts do believe that climate change, which is resulting in the decline of sea ice in Antarctica, may force emperor penguins to breed on ice shelves.
These resilient birds normally nest on free-floating sea ice that thaws and blows away each year. However, some colonies have recently been observed to be nesting on ice shelves, which scientists said could be a result of climate change. In this case, it may start becoming more common to see baby penguins leap from 50-foot-high cliffs.
The thinning of Antarctic Sea ice has also made scientists increasingly concerned about the survival of emperor penguins in these regions.
“We estimate that we could lose the whole population by the end of the century,” said Peter Fretwell, a British Antarctic Survey scientist, who has spent years studying satellite imagery of the Atka Bay emperor colony.
Watch the spellbinding moment of hundreds of baby penguins taking the leap below
“It’s heartbreaking to think that the whole species may be gone if climate change continues on the path that it’s on at the moment,” Peter added.
Conservation biologist Michelle chose to stay hopeful and believes the ability of emperor penguins to adapt could help them deal with the changes taking place in the white landscape of Antarctica.
“They’re incredibly resilient,” she said. “They have been around for millions of years; they’ve seen lots of different changes in their environment. It’s a question of how rapidly they’re able to deal with the changes that are happening—and how far they can be pushed.”
People online had plenty to say after watching the caught-on-camera-for-the-first-time incident
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