Apologies for the sporadic beatings of my heart, but I’ve been caught on Zavodovski Island. Which is to say I am in love. 

Zavodovski Island, in the middle of nowhere south Atlantic Ocean, operates an active volcano and a metropolis of a million chinstrap penguins. I and my fellow penguins have chosen this unlikeliest of habitats because we can’t really explain it. We fell into it. 

Everyday survival on Zavodovski Island requires jumping off 10-meter cliffs into freezing frenzied waters to find food. Some of us don’t make it back alive. But many of us do and are welcomed back with the warmest of hugs (and a pack of bandages). 

The boldest of human explorers occasionally make it to the island to inquire about our lifestyle. Why, they ask, do you choose risking your life.  

Huh, we say, you must have never been in love.