Antarctica as the extreme environment is a continent situated at the southernmost point of the world. Formed from ice freezing over land and rock due to the intense cold, it grows and shrinks each year from its seasons. The ice sheets have developed over the last 1.5 million years, giving us great insight into the past. The Antarctic continent has moved significantly over the course of the earth's formation to how it is in current days, as it was once a nutrition rich land with forests like New Zealand's. These were home to many creatures including the penguin's ancestors, however as it headed southwards and became colder, many swam off to other areas of the globe and evolved to suit those climates. Some animals remained on the moving continent
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The physiological adaptations of the Emperor penguin are concentrated around the swimming and hunting part of their life. As they prepare to dive, they increase their heart rate to 180-200 bpm from the usual 60 and then drop it immediately to 100 when they get into the water. This increase in heart rate and breathing is for them to increase their amount of oxygen, then they reduce their bpm down to roughly 20 for the remainder of the dive which helps conserve oxygen and energy. This aids them in their length and depth of dive, which is also supported by another physiological adaption. The Emperor Penguins ability to hold their breaths for up to 22 minutes, consequently allows them to reach depths of 565 metres, enabling them to hunt for longer and reach better feeding areas. A physiological adaption used during the mating seasons is that the males can starve themselves for over three months, allowing them to look after the young while the females are feeding. This is very impressive as they are withstanding dreadful conditions and risk death from exhaustion on the 70-mile march back to the ocean. Some, unfortunately, do not make it meaning that the route has a scattering of the past
The physiological adaptations of the Emperor penguin are concentrated around the swimming and hunting part of their life. As they prepare to dive, they increase their heart rate to 180-200 bpm from the usual 60 and then drop it immediately to 100 when they get into the water. This increase in heart rate and breathing is for them to increase their amount of oxygen, then they reduce their bpm down to roughly 20 for the remainder of the dive which helps conserve oxygen and energy. This aids them in their length and depth of dive, which is also supported by another physiological adaption. The Emperor Penguins ability to hold their breaths for up to 22 minutes, consequently allows them to reach depths of 565 metres, enabling them to hunt for longer and reach better feeding areas. A physiological adaption used during the mating seasons is that the males can starve themselves for over three months, allowing them to look after the young while the females are feeding. This is very impressive as they are withstanding dreadful conditions and risk death from exhaustion on the 70-mile march back to the ocean. Some, unfortunately, do not make it meaning that the route has a scattering of the past