Penguins Take a Two-Week ‘Vacation’ While They Molt

Not all birds molt the same way. Some species undergo a gradual feather change, allowing them to continue flying. Cranes, meanwhile, are highly skittish during their molting period and will flee at the slightest hint of danger because they can’t fly then. Woodpeckers molt in a way that lets them keep foraging.

But when it comes to penguins, the molting process is quite different. They shed all their feathers at once and then stand still for about two weeks while new plumage grows in.

“Look at that penguin on vacation,” the winterers in Antarctica joke as they watch the molting bird.