Does your long distance relationship have you pining for your partner? Well, at least you aren’t a southern rockhopper penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome). These marine birds mate for life, but don’t spend much time together other than during the mating season, which is only 20-30 days long. Talk about difficult travel logistics: GPS trackers show that penguins have overlapping wintering habitats, but because males and females show up to a nesting site at different times, it may be more work to find each other after the mating season, rather than just meeting up again the next year.

Sketch and fact contributed by Karli Chudeau

Source: Thiebot, J.B., Bost, C.A., Dehnhard, N., Demongin, L., Eens, M., Lepoint, G., Cherel, Y. & Poisbleau, M. (2015). Mates but not sexes differ in migratory niche in a monogamous penguin species. Biology Letters, 11, 1-4. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2015.0429