# If a penguin did not lay it's egg but held it in?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-penguin-did-not-lay-its-egg-but-held-it-in/585685
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 16, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-penguin-did-not-lay-its-egg-but-held-it-in/585685 "2011-06-16T13:59:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@h4ckys4ck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h4ckys4ck)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-penguin-did-not-lay-its-egg-but-held-it-in/585685/1 "2011-06-16T13:59:34Z")
What would happen if we implemented a system to stop a penguin from laying it’s egg?
Maybe using some sore of wire mesh device or what-not.
The idea being that it would free up time for the male and allow it to go to the feeding grounds instead of huddling in a group to keep the eggs warm.
Would the egg overheat or would it stay at an optimum temperature?
Lets just assume the device removes itself at the exact moment the egg would begin hatching.
The penguins are the Antarctic type.
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### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-penguin-did-not-lay-its-egg-but-held-it-in/585685/2 "2011-06-16T14:35:04Z")
IIRC, eggs (or the chicks inside) breathe through the pores in the shell; so yeah, the male would not have to do as much if the egg was not let out.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-penguin-did-not-lay-its-egg-but-held-it-in/585685/3 "2011-06-16T14:35:45Z")
[Egg laying animals that fail to expel the egg also are unable to expel waste products, so they die.](http://www.tailfeathersnetwork.com/birdinformation/egglaying.php)
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-penguin-did-not-lay-its-egg-but-held-it-in/585685/4 "2011-06-16T16:28:34Z")
> [@h4ckys4ck](#):
>
> What would happen if we implemented a system to stop a penguin from laying it’s egg?
>
> Maybe using some sore of wire mesh device or what-not.
>
> The idea being that it would free up time for the male and allow it to go to the feeding grounds instead of huddling in a group to keep the eggs warm.
>
> Would the egg overheat or would it stay at an optimum temperature?
>
> Lets just assume the device removes itself at the exact moment the egg would begin hatching.
>
> The penguins are the Antarctic type.
Considering that most birds only have one hole for solid waste, liquid waste, and reproduction, I don’t imagine that the penguin’s going to last long with a [bound egg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_binding).
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-penguin-did-not-lay-its-egg-but-held-it-in/585685/5 "2011-06-16T17:01:32Z")
Now, if we could genengineer the female to grow a sort of pesudo-placenta around the egg, such as rattlesnakes have, then we may be on to something.
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### Author:  [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-penguin-did-not-lay-its-egg-but-held-it-in/585685/6 "2011-06-16T17:43:32Z")
The process goes like this for the emperor penguin, the one most famous for having the male care for the egg:
1. Female spends lots of energy on making a large egg with nutrients, then leaves it with the male to go eat.
2. Egg hatches, if female’s not back yet, male feeds chick with gunk produced in the esophagus.
3. Female returns, male goes to the sea to feed, while female pukes up fish.
4. Male returns, femal goes to the sea to feed, while male pukes up fish.
Repeat step 3 and 4 until chick is big enough for daycare, then both parents can go fish.
According to cited information on wikipedia, the emperor penguin is the only species where the male is the one doing all of the brooding. In other species the brooding area is much closer to a coast, and the parents take turns from the start:
> **[Emperor penguin | Courtship and breeding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_penguin#Courtship_and_breeding)**
>
> Although Emperor penguins can breed at around three years of age, they generally do not begin breeding for another one to three years. The yearly reproductive cycle begins at the start of the Antarctic winter, in March and April, when all mature emperor penguins travel to colonial nesting areas, often walking 50 to 120 km (31 to 75 mi) inland from the edge of the pack ice. The start of travel appears to be triggered by decreasing day lengths; emperor penguins in captivity have been induce
So if the egg is kept inside in preparation for a live birth the chick might suffocate, but more importantly (getting oxygen inside an egg inside a body has been solved by lots of different species) the female will die before the male returns. There are good reasons for her to take the first turn going to feed.
Also, there’s no “antarctic type penguin”. Four different species of penguin breed on the Antarctic continent.
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-penguin-did-not-lay-its-egg-but-held-it-in/585685/7 "2011-06-16T17:51:14Z")
I believe the OP designated “Antarctic type penguins” to differentiate them from the rather dapper birds born in Hoboken.
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-penguin-did-not-lay-its-egg-but-held-it-in/585685/8 "2011-06-16T19:25:17Z")
Not to mention the climatically improbable penguins in Beaumont.
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### Author:  [@h4ckys4ck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h4ckys4ck)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2011, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-penguin-did-not-lay-its-egg-but-held-it-in/585685/9 "2011-06-17T07:35:12Z")
> [@naita](#):
>
> Also, there’s no “antarctic type penguin”. Four different species of penguin breed on the Antarctic continent.
I don’t discriminate. I love them all the same.
Thanks for the links and replies. Case closed.