The returns for the Best Paid Careers are not always monetary. Sometimes the resolution to Work From Home can be more satisfying than those who think only in pounds and pence can hope to imagine. This is particularly the case when the home environment is the most inhospitable on the earth and the benefit is the continued existence of your species. Aptenodytes Fosteri, the Emperor Penguin, surely has more to teach us on the subject matter of truly working hard at home than any other species on planet Earth. It is in the context of the breeding cycle of these remarkable birds that we must reassess our perceptions of what really are the Best Paid Careers.
After laying her egg on an ice sheet, the hen carefully passes it to the male. The male carries the egg on his feet, protecting it with a flap of skin and feathers which has grown to ensure the survival of the developing baby penguin. For be certain, were it not for this biological incubator, none of the eggs would live to hatching. Temperatures in the Antarctic winter can plummet to -70°C. After giving the egg to her mate, the female penguin makes the long journey on the ice to the ocean to feed. She has to recover her own body weight and then also accumulate enough food so that when she gets back to the colony of adult male penguins and chicks, she has plenty of food in her stomach to feed the chick. It is during the hen’s two month absence the adult male demonstrates that anyone who feels that their choice to Work From Home is involving a little too much work, should think again. Braving almost complete darkness, wind speeds of up to 100mph and temperatures of -70°C, these most loyal and caring of parents survive by crowding together and constantly shuffling so that each takes its fair share at the hazardous edge of the colony.
When the chick is born the adult male penguin is able to regurgitate a small meal of liquid fish and squid for the baby penguin. Of all the Careers In Demand, few can be more thus than that of the adult male Emperor Penguin as he guards his chick from the harsh Antarctic winter as both adult and chick await the return of the female Emperor Penguin. The female Emperor Penguin herself has not exactly been on a holiday. The 200 Kilometer round trip traversing the ice to her feeding grounds is a difficult and hazardous one. Some female Emperor Penguin do not return as they fall prey to the elements and predators including leopard seals. For those that do return to the colony, Careers In Demand can be no more satisfying than that of the returning female Emperor Penguin as she enjoys the enthusiastic greeting of her male and sees her chick for the first time. As the male Emperor Penguins now head off on their own journey to their oceanic feeding ground to regain the 45% of their body mass they have lost, the female Emperor Penguin take their turn to stop behind and feed and bond with their chicks. The arrival of spring and the sea ice melt means that every round trip to the ocean becomes shorter. The breeding season ends when all the parents finally leave the well fed chicks to make their own way to the ocean for 5 years at sea before they themselves take on the task of rearing their own chick in that harshest of home surroundings – the Antarctic Winter.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
