For nearly a year, 50 animatronic cameras disguised as realistic life-size penguins, eggs and rocks infiltrated penguin colonies to record the tough challenges penguins face from the moment they emerge from the sea to raise their chicks and finally return to the water. This series reveals the intimate, emotional, and sometimes amusing behavior of nature’s most devoted parents bringing up their young against the most extraordinary odds.

Watched by spycams, newborn emperor penguins in Antarctica are caught walking on their mothers’ feet and taking their own first unsteady steps. On the Falklands, rockhopper chicks meet their unruly and predatory neighbors, while “eggcams” provide unique views of the colony. In Peru, Humboldt chicks take on fur seals and take aim at gulls.