A juvenile emperor penguin chick with downy feathers, white body with black markings around eyes and back, standing on a snowy landscape with rocky terrain in Antarctica during winter with clear daylight conditions. 4:23
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Making friends is hard for a baby penguin

Two weeks in, the emperor penguin chicks are starting to wander away from their mothers. All of them but one. more

He was the last to hatch, and he is well behind the others. The older chicks are loud and sure of themselves. He would rather stay tucked in his mother's pouch. That's a sensible choice in Antarctica, one of the coldest places on Earth, where the colony lives through minus 60 degrees Celsius and colder.

A young penguin chick rests on soft white fluff, its black beak slightly open and its eyes closed. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
The last chick to hatch still likes it best close to his mother.

But penguins are social birds, and to survive, a chick has to learn his part in the colony. For a chick this far behind, that's a big ask. Still, he finds some courage and climbs out of the pouch. It's a shaky start. He takes a tumble, and his mother scoops him right back in.

A small penguin chick stands near larger penguins on snowy ground, partly hidden behind an adult. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
After a tumble, the little chick stays close to the grown-ups.

Then comes a bit of tough love. She nudges him out and toward the others, again and again, like a mom steering a shy kid toward a birthday party. With every step he gets a little bolder. The chicks look like toddlers in snowsuits, and they walk like it, too.

At last he walks up to a group of older chicks. They're bigger and louder than he is, and when you're the smallest, it's tough to join the gang. For a moment he stands on his own, shivering.

So he heads back to his mother and stands there nodding his head and chirping at her, as if he has a few complaints to make about the big kids. Then he settles down.

A juvenile emperor penguin chick with downy feathers, white body with black markings around eyes and back, standing on a snowy landscape with rocky terrain in Antarctica during winter with clear daylight conditions. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Two weeks in, the emperor penguin chicks are starting to wander away from their mothers.

Far out in the open ocean, the fathers are having a better time. They have gone four whole months without eating and have lost half their body weight. Now they make up for it, holding their breath for up to 20 minutes and diving nearly 600 meters down for fish and squid.

Three weeks on, the little one no longer needs a push. He follows his mother wherever she goes, hunched over and hurrying to keep up like a tiny old man.

Several penguin chicks huddle near an adult penguin on icy ground. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Three weeks on, the little one sticks close and follows his mother everywhere.

He's still learning how things are done, and how they're not, though he soon thinks there is nothing left to learn. The grown-ups aren't perfect either. At one point an adult slips on the ice and lets out a yell. The chick who wouldn't leave the pouch is now a cocky little explorer, and his mother has to keep him in sight.