Stunning Video Shows Hundreds of Baby Penguins Jumping Off a Cliff in Antarctica — But Why?

Typically, the bodies of most penguins are not designed for flying or jumping from elevated surfaces. The highest hop penguins can make is around six feet and that too in emergencies. Only rockhopper penguins are known to make a plunge from such heights. But footage filmed by National Geographic (@NatGeo) shows how hundreds of baby emperor penguins defied the limitations of their bodies and jumped from a towering 50-foot ice cliff. Experts said that the sight may become more common as the thick blanket of sea ice melts due to climate change.

The one-of-its-kind footage, captured at Atka Bay in Northern Antarctica, shows hundreds of baby emperor penguins waddling on a colossal ice shelf to gather at the edge of a lanky cliff. Bathed in sunlight, the jagged white precipice became a canvas stippled with these penguins that collectively resembled a pattern of dots swirling at the cliff edge in black and gold. According to Live Science, there were about 700 baby penguins in this gathering. All of them stood hesitantly on the lip of the cliff as if thinking whether they’d be able to make it alive after this long jump.

Then one juvenile emperor launched himself into the flight. With quivering flippers, the penguin plummeted down and dived into the icy water with a splash. Moments later, the chick surfaced from the watery abyss and soon it swam away to hunt for food. Seeing the bird survive, other baby penguins also moved closer to the edge and started plunging down into the water below. At first, they jumped one by one, then in dozens, and soon enough, the icy water was filled with ripples, probably for the first time.  

The surreal footage was shot by filmmakers producing a documentary series called Secrets of the Penguins, which will debut on Earth Day 2025 on National Geographic and Disney+. Award-winning National Geographic cinematographer, Bertie Gregory, who filmed this footage, told Good Morning America, that he spent nearly two months tracking the 10,000-something flock of emperor penguins on the Antarctic Peninsula.

“It’s called fledgling when they take their first swim. Normally they jump off of sea ice, which is 1 or 2 feet high. We noticed that these trains of chicks were going past to a different place. So I launched the drone, flew it over there to see what was going on, and realized they were stacking up on the edge of a huge 50-foot ice cliff,” he explained to the outlet.

“I had no idea that the chicks would be able to make such a giant leap, and not just survive but happily swim off together into the Southern Ocean,” Gregory said in the footage. “How’s that for your first swimming lesson?” Normally, colonies of emperor penguins nest on the free-floating sea ice, not on the ice shelf. But lately, some colonies have been nesting near the shelf, the reason for which is mostly attributed to climate change, per National Geographic. These flightless creatures never usually set their foot on land, WWF explains. They are adapted to swim and dive but not fly or jump. Their dense feathers and thick layers of blubber help them live in thick ice where they huddle and mate with their partners throughout their life.

But exacerbating climate change has posed a dire threat to these birds as they’re increasingly forced to move towards the shelf to curb their hunger. According to WWF, nearly 50% of the penguins have gone extinct due to climate change, including one colony that disappeared completely from Antarctica. The rookery of penguins seen in the footage was partly motivated by hunger and partly by learning to fish for themselves when their parents abandoned them due to a lack of food nearby. Whatever their reason for jumping, they definitely ended up proving that penguins may be flightless, but they aren’t fearless.

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