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Autumn in Atka Bay, Antarctica.

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just a few weeks ago, this was open sea.

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Now, a new frozen landscape is forming.

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This new world appears devoid of life.

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Well, almost.

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An emperor penguin.

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And he is not alone.

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Thousands of emperors
are coming to this frozen bay.

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They are here because the new ice
provides the safest place

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for them to breed.

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The ice will last nine months
before melting away next summer.

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And they will need every day
of those nine months

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to raise the next generation
of this great emperor dynasty.

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But to do so, they will have
to survive the coming winter.

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The coldest and the cruellest on Earth.

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Emperors pair up anew every year.

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And although winter is fast approaching.

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The process of finding
the perfect partner,

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cannot be hurried.

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New couples perform a graceful ritual

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that will cement their commitment
to each other.

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Moving together in synchrony
is the key to creating a powerful bond.

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And this bond needs to be
one of the strongest in nature.

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Because the survival
of every family here,

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and therefore the survival
of this dynasty,

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depends upon it.

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A penguin is beautifully
designed for many things.

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But mating,

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is not one of them.

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Unfortunately not all the penguins
have been able to find

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the perfect partner.

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And with time fast running out,

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this female forgoes the formalities.

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But this couple has already bonded
too tightly to be split apart

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by an interloper.

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Penguins unlucky in love
head back to spend the winter

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feeding at sea.

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Because there's no food out here
on the ice.

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The couples now face weeks
of waiting while their eggs develop.

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But one pair appears
to have got ahead of schedule.

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A bulge on a penguin's belly
is normally the sign of a parent

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keeping an egg warm on its feet.

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But she seems to be trying to keep...

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a snowball warm.

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They appear to be getting in
some practice for the real thing.

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The days are becoming shorter
and colder.

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Until finally the sun sets
for the last time for two months.

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It won't rise again until the spring.

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Now, they live in a twilight world,

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under the bright Antarctic moon.

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For this couple, the long wait
for their egg is almost over.

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The female senses it.

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Her contractions have begun.

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The next generation of emperors
is on its way.

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Producing an egg
takes a huge amount of energy.

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Such that the females
lose a quarter of their body weight.

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She hasn't eaten for over a month

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and needs to return
to the ocean to feed.

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She can't take her precious egg
with her.

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So she must pass it to her partner
to care for.

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He has a special brood pouch
to keep it warm, close to his skin.

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If he doesn't get the egg
off the ice quickly, it will freeze.

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Now, she's free to go.

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But she does seem
rather reluctant to leave.

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He will now have sole responsibility
for their egg

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all through the long, harsh winter.

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He won't see his partner again

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until the egg has hatched.

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Over the next few days,
every female in the colony,

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hurries away on the same 15-mile march
to the sea.

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A freezing wind blowing in
from the heart of the continent

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drives the temperature down.

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To keep themselves and their eggs warm,

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the males now perform
one of the most spectacular

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demonstrations of cooperation in nature.

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One by one,

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they lack themselves into a huddle.

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Creating a giant incubator
made up of over 4, 000 male penguins.

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Each individual constantly tries
to push into the best possible position

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to keep himself and his egg warm.

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As a result, the entire huddle
is forever on the move.

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Storm force winds
now drive the temperature down

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to minus 60 Celsius.

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For the emperors on the outside,
facing the wind,

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the conditions become unbearable.

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They have no choice,
but to break off and try to get round

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to the sheltered side.

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He must get back on his feet,
but without letting go of his egg.

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If he fails, the embryo
inside will rapidly freeze and die.

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Once they arrive on the sheltered side
of the huddle,

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they get some relief from the wind.

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When a blizzard sets in here,
it rages for days on end.

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Now, the casualties are revealed.

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Battered, starving and exhausted,
there is still no relief

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for the survivors.

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The storm has driven them nearly a mile

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from the safest part of the ice.

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It's a weary march back
to where they started from.

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Now, they reform their huddle
to be ready for the next storm.

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Which will come inevitably.

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Only after two months of brutal weather,

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does the polar night
finally come to an end.

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And with it, comes a hint of warmth.

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The return of the sun coincides
with the appearance

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of the newest members of the colony.

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In a matter of days,
there are thousands of hungry mouths,

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all demanding food.

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Their fathers haven't eaten
anything for nearly four months.

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Yet, they have kept back
a vital reserve,

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a kind of thick, penguin milk

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just for this moment.

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But it's only enough to keep
the chick alive for a few days.

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The females must return soon with food.

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For some, it's already too late.

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The first of the females are returning.

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Fat and well-fed, more arrive,
all with food for the chicks.

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And not a moment too soon
for the waiting fathers.

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A mother's first sight
of her young chick.

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With their band reaffirmed,
the whole family celebrates.

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Now, at last, he can hand over
his precious chick

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to its mother.

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But there are less fortunate
females here

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whose chicks have died.

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Yet, their parenting instinct
is still strong.

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The sight of a youngster
being handed over is irresistible.

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More chickless females
join in the melee.

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The chick appears to be safe.

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But it is no longer
with its true parents.

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The prospects for a kidnapped chick
are never good.

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Despite their immense efforts
over the last three months,

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this couple have nothing to show for it.

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For those couples
that have been successful,

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it's the father's turn to
head back to sea

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to get a much-needed meal for himself.

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And to take his turn collecting
food for the chick.

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The mother is now able
to bond with her new baby.

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And urgently to feed it.

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Its first taste of sea food.

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But the times of hardship are not over.

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Another storm and another white-out.

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For some, this is a catastrophe.

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They have tumbled into
a ravine in the ice.

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With steep, slippery walls.

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Chicks are now a deadly burden.

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Mothers carrying young
cannot grip the ice.

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If she doesn't get out,
they will both die.

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This mother has had
to make a terrible choice.

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To save herself
she has abandoned her chick.

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One mother at least is not prepared
to give up on her chick.

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Mother and chick are safe.

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There is, occasionally, a respite
from the brutality of Antarctica.

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Clear skies,

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gentle winds,

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and a particularly spectacular
display of the southern lights.

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The Aurora Australis.

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As the sun climbs higher everyday,

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it warms the ice.

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Soon, the emperors' frozen
world will start to melt away.

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For the last few weeks,
the mother and father

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have taken it in turn
to feed their offspring.

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But it's growing appetite
will soon force both parents

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to go away fishing at the same time.

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Now, it's time to encourage
the month old chicks

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to stand on their own two feet.

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Sometimes it takes a well-timed kick.

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Now, both parents can head off
to sea to go fishing.

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For the first time, the chicks
will have to face the elements

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without a parent to protect them.

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Other adults certainly
won't look after them.

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So, lone chicks gather together
for comfort.

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As the temperature drops to minus 25,

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the chicks instinctively
create their own mini huddle.

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just as their fathers do.

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This is no time for a youngster
to be alone.

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If they're lucky, some chicks
may still have the protection

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of a parent taking a break from fishing.

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But for the majority,
the huddle is their only shelter.

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Even in this weather,
adults must still head back and forth

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to the sea to bring back food.

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The instinct to follow adults
is still strong.

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But in a blizzard, that is a bad idea.

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The adults disappearance

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-leaves the chicks in confusion.

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Lost and alone, his only hope

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is that this adult
is heading back to the colony

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and not away from it,
across the frozen wastes.

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With the last of the big storms over,

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summer has arrived.

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The ice that has been the penguin's home
is melting.

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These chicks are almost fully grown,

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and approaching independence.

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Before they leave for the sea,

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all emperors, adults
and their chicks must moult.

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For the youngsters,
this marks the arrival of adulthood.

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Against all the odds,
two-thirds have survived.

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But the annual disappearance
of their ice world

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is a reminder that they face
an uncertain future.

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00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:56,797
Ocean temperatures
are expected to rise year-on-year.

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This Antarctic sea ice
on which all emperor penguins rely

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may not freeze for long enough each year

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for them to complete
their extraordinary life cycle.

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00:48:16,160 --> 00:48:20,358
But as the whole colony
prepares to leave Atka Bay.

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00:48:21,480 --> 00:48:27,431
These parents have successfully raised
the next generation

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in this emperor's dynasty.

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00:48:50,160 --> 00:48:53,869
To capture the extraordinary
story of the emperor penguins,

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the Dynasties team had to travel
to the end of the earth.

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00:48:59,360 --> 00:49:04,639
Neumayer research station will be home
to the film crew for nearly a year.

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00:49:05,720 --> 00:49:09,634
There's about 70 tons worth of food.

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00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:13,799
We've got about 15 boxes
of white cabbage.

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00:49:15,200 --> 00:49:17,555
Neumayer has everything they need.

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00:49:18,320 --> 00:49:21,153
But it's a different world outside.

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It's really easy to feel quite
comfortable inside.

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00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:29,310
This place, it's...

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Wild, really wild.

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00:49:32,240 --> 00:49:34,993
It's worth reminding ourselves that,
every now and again...

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Gotta go inside.

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The crew need five layers of clothing,

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before they can even think
of leaving the base.

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00:49:45,600 --> 00:49:49,878
As the final plane departs,
they know that it will be the last

220
00:49:49,960 --> 00:49:53,032
till winter is over
in eight months time.

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The plane has just left
and that's us on our own now.

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Nobody will be coming
in case something happened.

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We are now all by ourselves.

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00:50:05,960 --> 00:50:09,794
When the team head out to
explore, they discover just how careful

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00:50:09,880 --> 00:50:13,316
they'll have to be working
in this hostile world.

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00:50:13,400 --> 00:50:15,755
We've come across an enormous crack,

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00:50:15,840 --> 00:50:19,117
so we're probably on
an unsafe piece of ice at the moment.

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Oh, my God.

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Did you just hear that?

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A deep crack in the edge
of the ice shelf like this,

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can be extremely dangerous.

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Oh, my word, it just goes
straight down.

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This area is definitely not safe.

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An incredible reminder of how...

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How unpredictable this place is,
it's just mind-blowing.

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Six miles from the station,

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the permanent ice meets the ocean.

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This is where the penguins
will soon be heading.

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00:50:54,480 --> 00:50:56,073
Once the sea is frozen,

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the team will have to cross
the treacherous newly formed ice

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to reach them.

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00:51:01,680 --> 00:51:04,638
Found a decent spot
for the guys to lower me down

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00:51:04,720 --> 00:51:06,518
onto the sea ice for the first time.

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00:51:07,120 --> 00:51:11,079
So, Will's gonna act as a safety man
for me in case anything goes wrong.

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00:51:18,000 --> 00:51:20,594
These are our first few steps
on to the sea ice,

246
00:51:21,480 --> 00:51:24,836
definitely feels a bit nerve racking
knowing that there's

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00:51:24,920 --> 00:51:27,150
a couple hundred metres
of water underneath us.

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00:51:28,720 --> 00:51:30,393
To find a safe route,

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00:51:30,480 --> 00:51:33,791
the crew must check the depths
of the ice all the way.

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00:51:34,280 --> 00:51:38,831
Ice around 30 centimetres
and above is stable.

251
00:51:46,520 --> 00:51:49,512
This is a great moment for us,
we finally made it to the colony.

252
00:51:49,600 --> 00:51:51,079
Yeah, it's really special.

253
00:51:51,160 --> 00:51:54,357
When it's this still and there's
this many birds in front of you.

254
00:51:55,120 --> 00:51:57,191
It makes the place
look absolutely beautiful.

255
00:51:59,360 --> 00:52:02,990
A few weeks later,
the sun sets for the last time.

256
00:52:03,600 --> 00:52:07,480
And Antarctica reveals its harsher side.

257
00:52:08,000 --> 00:52:11,118
We think it's probably minus 50.

258
00:52:11,440 --> 00:52:13,670
The sun is somewhere below the horizon.

259
00:52:14,280 --> 00:52:16,794
So, it won't be visible for another,

260
00:52:17,960 --> 00:52:19,678
six weeks probably.

261
00:52:20,240 --> 00:52:23,756
Um, so this is something
that we're gonna have to get used to.

262
00:52:25,400 --> 00:52:26,913
It's easier said than done.

263
00:52:27,560 --> 00:52:28,994
Oh, God.

264
00:52:29,240 --> 00:52:31,914
And then the storms come.

265
00:52:34,480 --> 00:52:38,474
We've got proper weather now
and really, really strong wind.

266
00:52:39,640 --> 00:52:43,838
The colony is just in front of us,
sometimes it disappears behind the snow.

267
00:52:57,160 --> 00:53:00,471
The speed's been hovering around
100 km/h now, since it's picked up.

268
00:53:01,880 --> 00:53:04,633
What these penguins are
having to put up with out there.

269
00:53:05,360 --> 00:53:07,351
It's just mind-blowing.

270
00:53:12,640 --> 00:53:14,836
We're finally coming to the end
of this storm,

271
00:53:14,920 --> 00:53:17,196
there's all sorts of weird,
rattling sounds.

272
00:53:19,240 --> 00:53:22,517
To be quite honest,
I don't know how this station manages

273
00:53:22,600 --> 00:53:23,874
to stay standing.

274
00:53:31,360 --> 00:53:35,797
Finally, the sun returns,
but the storms continue.

275
00:53:37,240 --> 00:53:41,916
A break in the weather reveals something
the team had not expected.

276
00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:46,712
Well, I can her a heck of a lot of noise
coming from just over the brow.

277
00:53:48,280 --> 00:53:49,600
Oh, man.

278
00:53:53,080 --> 00:53:54,400
Oh, my word.

279
00:53:54,640 --> 00:53:57,154
There are birds down there with chicks.

280
00:53:58,240 --> 00:54:01,756
Film crews have to capture
events as they unfold

281
00:54:01,840 --> 00:54:03,672
whatever their feelings.

282
00:54:09,720 --> 00:54:11,757
I know it's natural, but it's, urn...

283
00:54:13,640 --> 00:54:15,392
It's bloody hard to watch.

284
00:54:19,320 --> 00:54:20,913
Oh, the worst.

285
00:54:24,680 --> 00:54:27,149
I think we're just gonna have to
observe them for a bit

286
00:54:27,240 --> 00:54:28,878
to see exactly what's happening.

287
00:54:37,240 --> 00:54:40,358
We've come back up onto the top
because the weather's coming in again,

288
00:54:40,440 --> 00:54:41,839
and we were just about to pack up.

289
00:54:42,120 --> 00:54:46,159
And an adult with a chick
on its feet managed to make its way up.

290
00:54:47,840 --> 00:54:49,831
It's amazing using its beak,

291
00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:52,480
and then when it got to this
last, little bit,

292
00:54:52,560 --> 00:54:53,959
its wings.

293
00:54:54,920 --> 00:54:59,039
Oh, man, if only the other
50 in there could do the same.

294
00:55:00,240 --> 00:55:04,120
Hopefully, the weather will clear again
tomorrow, and we can get back down here,

295
00:55:04,680 --> 00:55:08,071
and fingers crossed, there will be
a few less birds in this hole.

296
00:55:09,520 --> 00:55:12,114
Two days later,
the weather allows the team

297
00:55:12,200 --> 00:55:13,679
to return to the colony.

298
00:55:13,960 --> 00:55:16,952
Already the gulley has claimed
more casualties.

299
00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:20,196
The team decide to act.

300
00:55:20,920 --> 00:55:22,672
We've given it a lot of thought,

301
00:55:22,760 --> 00:55:25,957
we've decided that we are definitely
going to dig a shallow ramp

302
00:55:26,040 --> 00:55:27,792
that they will hopefully use.

303
00:55:29,800 --> 00:55:32,758
It's very rare
for the film crew to intervene,

304
00:55:33,160 --> 00:55:35,515
but they realise that they
may be able to save

305
00:55:35,600 --> 00:55:39,309
at least some of these birds,
simply by digging a few steps

306
00:55:39,400 --> 00:55:40,470
in the ice.

307
00:55:42,160 --> 00:55:43,912
Oh, man, Will, look.

308
00:55:44,200 --> 00:55:46,111
Oh, my goodness.

309
00:55:46,840 --> 00:55:50,037
We were literally just about to leave,
but the first birds

310
00:55:50,120 --> 00:55:52,999
are definitely making their way out
which is brilliant.

311
00:55:53,080 --> 00:55:55,594
So hopefully, they'll just
make their way back to the colony

312
00:55:55,680 --> 00:55:59,150
and them and their chicks will have
a much better chance of survival

313
00:55:59,240 --> 00:56:02,198
because there's no chance
that they were going to survive

314
00:56:02,280 --> 00:56:03,554
down there at all.

315
00:56:05,920 --> 00:56:08,833
The crew followed
the chicks as they grew up,

316
00:56:09,680 --> 00:56:11,990
and after months with the emperors,

317
00:56:12,080 --> 00:56:16,438
their time in Antarctica
is finally coming to a close.

318
00:56:17,240 --> 00:56:20,551
We're coming to the end
of the trip now and um...

319
00:56:22,200 --> 00:56:23,634
Yeah, we've had a...

320
00:56:24,440 --> 00:56:25,919
We've had an amazing year.

321
00:56:26,280 --> 00:56:27,475
And...

322
00:56:30,200 --> 00:56:32,032
I'm obviously desperate to get home.

323
00:56:32,840 --> 00:56:34,239
But there's, um...

324
00:56:36,960 --> 00:56:39,474
There's an odd part of me
that doesn't want to leave.

325
00:56:45,480 --> 00:56:46,914
What a privilege, eh?

326
00:56:54,720 --> 00:56:58,953
Next time, a lioness battles against the odds.

327
00:57:03,400 --> 00:57:05,471
To protect her family.

328
00:57:11,440 --> 00:57:14,831
Can she lead them back
from the brink of disaster?