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Never before seen footage has revealed the nail-biting moment hundreds of baby penguins jumped off a 15-metre ice cliff in Atka Bay on the Ekstrom Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

A National Geographic film crew were able to capture approximately 700 emperor penguin chicks gathering at the edge of a cliff, before leaping from the summit and into the icy ocean waters below.

Thankfully, the chicks emerged from the stunt unscathed.

Normally, the chicks enter the water from a fairly safe height of around one to two feet. However, satellite images have recently confirmed that some colonies are breeding and raising their chicks high up on ice shelves. This means the chicks are forced to jump into the ocean from much taller heights.

“This spectacular, heart-stopping moment has been witnessed by scientists before, but this is the first time the rare behaviour has been filmed for television,” National Geographic explained.

Enjoy:

Antarctica is home to 66 known Emperor penguin colonies, which usually breed and raise their chicks in the winter. Every January, when the chicks are around five months old, they undergo a process known as fledging.

During this process, the chicks lose their baby feathers and leave their colony for the first time, travelling to the ocean to take their first swim. Surprisingly, this swimming lesson takes place without the supervision of any adult penguins.

“This is when they are essentially learning how to swim,” said Sara Labrousse, a researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. “That’s not something that their parents teach them.”

“When they first go in the water, they are very awkward and unsure of themselves. They are not the fast and graceful swimmers their parents are.”