Parenting is a two-person job.

For penguins, child rearing is a tag-team affair. One watches over the egg or offspring while the other brings back food for the brood. Since penguins nest on land and hunt in water, there’s simply no other way to make it work. Gentoo penguins share incubation duties, swapping places on the nest daily. Fortunately, among other animal species—ours included—it’s possible to raise a child alone, but as any single parent will tell you, it certainly isn’t easy.