A mother emperor penguin is charged with a special duty: to bring food to her newborn chick. But the closest food is in the open sea, miles from the penguin breeding ground. While the father penguin incubates the egg as it develops into a chick, the mother must trek far across the pack ice, dodging predators and battling bitter cold to bring back the food her baby desperately needs.

See what an emperor penguin has in common with an Antarctic petrel. Learn what sets an emperor penguin apart from an osprey. Readers will compare key traits of emperor penguins-their appearance, behavior, habitat, and life cycle-to traits of other birds. Charts and sidebars support key ideas and provide details. Through gathering information about similarities and differences, readers will make connections and draw conclusions about what makes this...