Original air date: 25 November 1993
A detailed look at the timeline of the episode
Selected sequences
Macaroni penguins and the extra egg
Macaroni penguins produce two eggs, of different sizes. They abandon the smaller one that sheathbills eat – with no objection from the parent ! These sheathbills seem to be the only animals that don’t rely (directly) on any food from the sea. Apart from the occasional eggs, their normal food seems to be penguin poo. Why the penguins always do this was claimed to be a mystery.
Gentoo penguins “borrowing” stones from their neighbours
Gentoo penguins tend to “borrow” stones from their neighbours. These should be relatively easy to defend against when one-on-one (top), but when thieves are on both sides of you (bottom) it gets harder to fight off (20’18).
Penguins were not designed for skiing
Penguins have to go through all kinds of hurdles to find food. Some of the terrain they have to go are extra hard. They were not designed for skiing (21’05-21’30).
Snow petrels go to the centre of the continent
Snow petrels have no access to water so they have to bathe in snow to keep their feathers clean (27′-27’10)
Digging deeper
The mystery seems to have been solved (at least partly).
The solution has to do with a related species, erect-crested penguins (Eudyptes sclateri) which are closely related to the macaroni penguins (Eudyptes chrysolophus). One problem is that this erect-crested species was only discovered in 1998 while this series was produced in 1993 so something doesn’t quite add up.