Abstract

Film: March of the Penguins: This documentary follows the amazing journey Emperor Penguins take every year to reach their breeding ground from the sea. Males and females trek for 20 days, in single file, guided only by their instincts, until they reach a place so hostile no other animal can survive there at this time of year. Once they arrive, a complex dance ensues, until each male is paired off with a female. After mating, the female leaves the male to guard her egg, heading off on the long walk back to the sea to find food. Once the eggs have hatched, the female must bring food back to feed her chick, or it will starve. Once they have returned, the father’s duty of care is over, and he can take his turn to return to the sea to fish. Full of drama, as the chicks struggle to survive lack of food, freezing temperatures and attack by giant petrals, this documentary follows them until they take their first dive into the sea, where they will stay for four years, before following in their parent’s footsteps and completing this epic journey for themselves in their first mating season.

Talk: David Vaughan, a Climate Scientist at the British Antarctic Survey will talk about Ice Sheet melting. David has worked at the Natural Environment Research Council’s British Antarctic Survey since 1985, and now leads their IceSheets programme. He is Coordinating Lead Author for the 5th Assessment Review of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and has led 7 scientific campaigns in remote parts of Antarctica. His current research focuses on the contribution of ice sheets to sea-level rise.