The emperor penguin returned to the Antarctic station "Akademik Vernadskyi". Earlier this month, he already visited polar explorers.
The National Antarctic Science Center writes about it.
"Now he is studying the building of the station itself. The large fuel tank with palm trees, the main entrance, the fire exit near the fire pits, as well as the weather porches have already been inspected," the center says.
For the first time, this bird visited Galindez Island, where the Ukrainian station is located, at the beginning of June. Such a visit was a real surprise, because emperor penguins do not nest in the "Vernadskyi" area, but choose colder areas. Their nearest colony is more than 300 km away.
The last time the appearance of an emperor penguin near the station was recorded by Ukrainian polar explorers in December 2020. This time, he first walked around the island for a few days, liking a place near the geomagnetic observatory. Then he left Galindez, and now heʼs back again.
Biologists note that this is a young penguin that recently left its parents. At this age, solitary wanderings are typical for them, because they are not yet participating in reproduction and are actively studying the world around them.
Later, the polar explorers saw another large penguin on the other side of the island. The winterers noticed it from the boat while going out to sea, but the ice situation did not allow to get close and determine what kind of species it is.
Probably, it was either the second emperor penguin or the king penguin — they are a little smaller in size, but also quite large and do not live in this area (they prefer the warmer Subantarctic islands).