The nature of humans

Photo by Angie Scott. Her comment, "The captain of our Russian icebreaker wedged his ship against the ice in Antarctica’s Amundsen Sea, so we could step off. Almost immediately, a young emperor penguin appeared. We were probably the first humans it had ever seen. The picture I took is a statement on our world, its wild inhabitants and the nature of humans."

Weighing about the same as domestic sheep, emperor penguins are the largest of the penguins. To protect against the cold, they huddle together in groups. They breed during the long darkness of the Antarctic winter, but instead of building a nest the male keeps the egg on its feet, covering it with a warm fold of abdominal skin.

Entry in Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year