The penguins

For instance, there are several scenes in the film when a parent seems to grieve over a
broken egg doomed never to hatch, or appears to mourn over the body of its frozen chick.

Instinct, hormones, and the drive to reproduce influence a lot of the penguin behavior,
Kooyman said.

"What gives the impression sometimes of sorrow is that they fool around with the [broken or
frozen] egg, or other birds try to take an egg away," Kooyman said. "There's just a drive to
incubate, to participate in breeding behavior at that time of year for these birds."

The film also shows multiple shots of two adult penguins cuddling side by side, their beaks
touching and forming almost a heart shape. It looks like love, but is it?

Despite the beautiful imagery, it's not certain that each posturing pair is actually a mated
pair.
"If it's in August or September, the two are probably mates," Kooyman said. "In April it
could easily be two birds that get together and then decide that they wouldn't make good
partners.

"You also see such posturing at the ice's edge. There's a lot of social behavior between
adults," he added.
Unlike nesting birds, penguin parents actually spend very little time together.

The penguins make the grueling journey across some 70 miles (110 kilometers) of Antarctic
ice each April to return to the breeding grounds where they were born. After the courtship
period, the couple forms a strong bond until the egg is laid in May or early June.

However, as soon as the egg is transferred to the father, the mother takes off to return to
her feeding grounds. She returns some two months later. The starving male, who hasn't had a
meal in months, immediately leaves.
The two trade off rearing their fish and returning to the sea to feed for about five months,
until the chick is old enough to be left on its own. After that point the parents will
probably never see each other—or their offspring— again.

"In a way, the film anthropomorphized the lives of the penguins, but I think it's OK,"
Kooyman said. "Simplifying some aspects of the penguins' life story makes it more accessible
to the general public."