The catastrophic moult, explained
Once a year a penguin replaces every feather at once, stranded ashore and unable to feed for weeks. Here is why evolution chose such a risky strategy.
Read the noteField notes from the colonies
Dispatches on penguin biology, the science of counting a colony, and what it is like to stand among them — from the Antarctic ice to the beaches of Victoria.
Dispatches
Latest field notes
How we count a colony of thousands
From burrow surveys and nest cameras to tiny satellite tags, this is the patient science behind the population figures at places like Phillip Island.
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A season on South Georgia
Notes from a sub-antarctic beach where a quarter of a million king penguins turn the shoreline into a living, roaring crowd.
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The two-month fast of the emperor
Male emperors incubate a single egg on their feet through the Antarctic winter, losing almost half their body weight before the females return.
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Why the African penguin is vanishing
Once abundant, southern Africa's only penguin is now critically endangered. We look at the warming seas and empty fishing grounds behind the collapse.
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Reading a raft on the beach
How little penguins gather offshore and decide, together, when it is dark and safe enough to make the run up the sand.
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Planning a trip or researching a species? Send us a note and we will point you in the right direction.
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