March of the Penguins (2005)

Wildlife films play an important role in shaping public perceptions about the behavior of
animals. They also shape the cultural attitudes about wild animals and nature in general.
Therefore, inaccuracies or exaggerations in wildlife films can potentially mislead the public.
This paper reviews the film March of the Penguins (2005), a film about the yearly journey of
Antarctica’s emperor penguins. In particular, it will examine information in the film that
could be inaccurate or exaggerated.

1. Emperor penguins breed in the same colony and in the same place every year:
   According to the film, emperor penguins move from their normal habitats in the
   ocean to their ancestral breeding ground on land. The film suggests that the spot
   where breeding occurs remains the same all their lives.
    The study by University of Minnesota researchers found that emperor penguins are
   not strictly philopatric. Using satellite imagery, they found that in six occasions,
   emperor penguins did not return to the same location that they had used for breeding
   in the previous breeding cycle (LaRue et al., 2015). They also found newly-
   established colonies. These findings suggest that rather using one spot year-in-year-
   out for their breeding, emperor penguins regularly change their breeding grounds.
    Fretwell et al. (2012) also examined breeding of emperor penguins. Using satellite
   imagery, the researchers discovered many new colonies of emperor penguins. The
   discovery of these new colonies provided strong evidence against the view that
   emperor penguins are strictly philopatric as the film suggested.
2. Penguins are monogamous: The film suggests that penguins are monogamous
   creatures who stay with a single partner for all of their life.

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 Contrary to the films’ claims, penguins do not remain monogamous for all of their
lives. According to Ancel et al. (2013), emperor penguins’ monogamy extends only to
one season. Sometimes they mate with the same partner in the following season.
However, often they change mating partners. According to Ancel et al. (2013), the
chances of an emperor penguin maintaining the same partner in two consecutive
breeding seasons is just 15%. This low inter-annual fidelity shows that emperor
penguins are serial monogamists rather than lifetime monogamists.
 Bast (2019) also casts doubt on the claim in the film that emperor penguins are
monogamists. In fact, Bast (2019) notes that emperor penguins are among few
animals that have a documentation of prostitution. Male penguins sometimes ‘pay’
female penguins with stones in order to have sex with them. He also adds that
penguins maintain one partner only during a breeding season. Thus, rather than being
monogamous, Bast (2019) suggests that emperor penguins are a promiscuous species.

3. Penguins adopt chicks: The film shows that emperor penguins who fail to breed
   usually adopt chicks from emperor penguins that have been successful at
   breeding.
    Penguins do not adopt chicks. Rather than adoption, Angelier et al. (2006) argue that
   emperor penguins kidnap chicks of other penguins. It is not yet clear why emperor
   penguins kidnap juvenile penguins of other emperor penguins, given that raising a
   young penguin requires a lot of effort. Angelier et al. (2006) speculate that the
   kidnapping behavior in emperor penguins is due to the hormone prolactin. Emperor
   penguins that have high levels of prolactin hormones are more likely to kidnap chick
   penguins than those with low levels of prolactin hormones.
    Bast (2019) also disagrees that emperor penguins adopt chick penguins bred by other
   emperor penguins. According it is kidnapping, rather than adoption that occurs. When

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the young chick of an emperor penguin dies, the penguin often tries to kidnap the
baby of another penguin.

References

Ancel, A., Beaulieu, M., & Gilbert, C. (2013). The different breeding strategies of penguins:
a review. Comptes Rendus Biologies, 336(1), 1-12.
Angelier, F., Barbraud, C., Lormée, H., Prud’Homme, F., & Chastel, O. (2006). Kidnapping
of chicks in emperor penguins: a hormonal by-product? Journal of Experimental
Biology, 209(8), 1413-1420.
Bast, F. (2019). Intriguing World of Antarctic Penguins.
Fretwell, P. T., LaRue, M. A., Morin, P., Kooyman, G. L., Wienecke, B., Ratcliffe, N., &
Trathan, P. N. (2012). An emperor penguin population estimate: the first global,
synoptic survey of a species from space. PloS one, 7(4), e33751.
LaRue, M. A., Kooyman, G., Lynch, H. J., & Fretwell, P. (2015). Emigration in emperor
penguins: implications for interpretation of long‐term studies. Ecography, 38(2),
114-120. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.00990