National Geographic’s latest wildlife documentary, Secrets of the Penguins, has captured unprecedented penguin behaviour – including gripping footage of hordes of Emperor chicks scrambling atop a 50-foot ice shelf, not wanting to be the first to jump into the freezing waters below.
As part of the programme’s remarkable two-year filming schedule, a three-person crew, led by Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning Nat Geo Explorer Bertie Gregory, spent 274 days filming on the Ekström Ice Shelf in Antarctica – which is home to a colony of 20,000 emperor penguins.
Chicks usually nest on free-floating sea ice but colonies are now nesting on ice shelves too – with scientists suggesting that the ice shelves are less prone to melting in rising temperatures.
“I had no idea that the chicks would be able to make such a giant leap – and not just survive but happily swim off together into the Southern Ocean,” cameraperson Bertie Gregory narrates. “That is a pretty unbelievable thing to see.”
The team also captured astonishing species and behaviours such as healthy ‘rockaroni’ chicks (a rare hybrid of macaroni and rockhopper penguins) and a hidden cave colony of African penguins.
The epic three-part series, narrated by actor Blake Lively, spans the icy shores of South Georgia Island to the tropical Galapagos and captures the charisma and courage of these adorable flightless birds as they fight for survival in some of the most extreme environments on Earth.
The series is executive-produced by Academy Award-winner James Cameron, and is available to stream now on Disney+.
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Main image: Emperor penguin chicks jumping off the ice shelf edge for their first swim in Atka Bay, Antarctica. Credit: National Geographic/Bertie Gregory