The egg was discovered by Zoya Shvidka, a biologist of the 30th expedition, while walking around the island where the Ukrainian station is located. The scientist noticed that some penguins were lying down and not getting up, so she decided to come closer and check her suspicions. They came true – the female actually laid an egg.
Interestingly, for the second year in a row, Ukrainian biologists have found the first egg in the same place – on a rock near the DNC house. This is a small laboratory where geophysicists continuously receive radio frequencies to study geospace.
As Shvidka explained, this is one of the highest penguin nesting points on the island. Due to their height, the rocks become bare of snow relatively early and become suitable for nesting. Perhaps that is why the first eggs appear here.
The first penguin chicks are expected in about a month.
The NASC recalled that subantarctic penguins living on the island hatch their eggs on nests made of stones. The couple does this in turns: while the mother feeds in the ocean, the father remains on the nest and vice versa. Subantarctic penguins have two eggs, less often three, but the third hatchling has little chance of survival.
The NASC also noted that subantarctic penguins are thermophilic and did not nest on Galindez until the mid-2000s. This season they have already been counted 7 thousand.
