Driven by hunger, the exhausted females now return to the ocean on their own repeating the epic journey they made with the males only a month before. Now the sun barely appears above the horizon. As the days shorten, its warmth is withdrawn from the continent. With the females gone the colony undergoes a strange transformation. The males shuffle into groups, their eggs still tucked away above their feet. They lock together in tightly packed huddles as they struggle to keep warm. Speeding up the action reveals how these huddles constantly shift and change as each penguin works its way towards the warmer interior. Crammed into this scrum, the birds are remarkably good natured, but they have to be. If the huddle breaks even for a moment, precious heat escapes.


因为饥饿难耐，精疲力尽的雌企鹅要独自回到海里去，走的是一个月前它们和雄企鹅一起来时的那一条路。这时太阳几乎很难从地平线上升起，白天越来越短，温暖逐渐消失得无影无踪了。雌企鹅走后，这里发生了奇特的变化，雄企鹅们挤在一起，脚的上方放着刚刚产下不久的蛋。通过镜头快放，可以看出它们的队形一直在变化之中，因为大家都在往温暖的中间挤。这些鸟儿如此紧紧地挤在一起，一个个都表现得十分温驯，它们也必须如此，因为如果队伍散开，哪怕一小会儿，宝贵的热量就会散失。