There are numerous examples of dedicated fathers across the animal kingdom, and the Emperor Penguin is probably one of the best. The father incubates the egg in his brood pouch, balancing it on top of his feet for 64 days before it hatches! By the time the egg hatches, the dad would have fasted for around 115 days! Moreover, if the mother returns late from the sea (which she must leave for after laying the egg, in order to refill her depleted energy reserves) the male feeds the chick with crop milk (a curd-like substance comprised of protein and lipid) which is synthesized in a gland in his esophagus.
Coincidentally as we celebrate Fathers' Day, the male Emperor Penguins at this time of the year are busy incubating their eggs, battling it out in the harsh Antarctic winter. Here's a Fathers' Day greeting for nature's superdads!
(PS- I know it's a little late, but prints are available as A3 size posters :))
This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
interesting and informative..
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