Snow Chick: A Penguin's Tale Page #3

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with the emperors

and the summer season is their turn.

If you're small,

it's best to keep a low profile

and hope they'll pick on

someone their own size!

While the bigger chicks are squaring up,

he makes his exit...

When the new neighbours

aren't picking fights with the chicks

they argue amongst themselves.

The Adlie invasion is also a sign

of a bigger and more profound change...

After five months of nurturing

the adults are preparing

to leave their chicks for good.

A conveyer belt of food

is now arriving around the clock

building them up

until they can fend for themselves.

Many adults are leaving

the colony for the last time.

And the smallest chick here

still has some feeding up to do

and his parents are nowhere to be seen.

Then, two familiar figures.

It's double helpings this time!

He'll need the extra nourishment...

he doesn't know it yet, but this is

the last meal he'll ever get from them.

Without so much as a backward glance,

mum and dad head back to sea.

Their work is done.

The chick they spent 5 months rearing

must now stand on his own two feet.

A week goes by

and the weather deteriorates.

All that time, the chicks have been waiting,

but their parents never returned.

Even the Adlie seems confused.

Eventually, driven by hunger and instinct

their only choice is to cross

the colony's invisible boundary

and begin the most important

journey of their lives.

The Adlie couldn't be

happier to see them go.

He escorts them off the premises.

As winds reach 120km per hour,

the smallest struggles to keep up.

But he'll only survive

if he stays with the group

and it's so easy

to lose them in a blizzard.

In temperatures of minus 20,

they battle on...

driven by a need to reach the sea.

After several hours,

the struggling chick is losing energy.

Then, even the other chicks

can travel no more.

Completely exhausted,

the chick must make one final effort.

Together the plucky little gang

wait for the storm to pass.

A few days later, the weather has changed

and so have the chicks!

As they prepare for a life in the ocean,

they preen away their baby fluff

to reveal their adult plumage underneath.

As ever, one chick

has some catching up to do.

The Adlie wants them on their way.

Urged on by their escort,

the ragtag army reach their destination.

This is their first sight of the sea...

The great Antarctic Ocean.

They're facing the greatest challenge

of their young lives

and they'll only go when all are ready.

But their ice world is disappearing fast.

He hesitates. Something's wrong.

The ice gives way!

He's tossed into the sea!

He can't go it alone...

he must rejoin the others.

Then he starts to settle...

It feels strangely natural.

But as the rest show

no sign of joining him

his only choice is to clamber back out.

It's far more difficult than getting in!

And it seems he's not alone in the water.

The chicks head for a safer spot.

But, despite the danger,

the ocean is beckoning

and the excitement is contagious.

An old foe is here to see them off.

The chick may still be the smallest

but he seems more confident now.

He may be facing the great unknown

but he's already had a taste of the sea.

He pushes his way to the front.

After all he has learnt,

this is his moment.

He takes a leap of faith...

and this time there is no turning back.

The rest follow his cue.

He might have been the smallest

but he was strong enough

to survive against the odds.

And now he leads the penguin gang

into the vast Antarctic Ocean.

This will be their home

for the next four years.

Then, driven by the same feelings

that drove his parents

Snow Chick will return here

to find a partner of his own.

And the whole incredible story

will begin all over again.

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