Penguins are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have counter-shaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have evolved into flippers.
Fast Facts about Penguins
1. When penguin chicks hatch, they are not waterproof, so they must stay out of the ocean. They depend on their parents to bring them food and to keep them warm until waterproof feathers replace their fluffy down coats. While other birds have wings for flying, penguins have adapted flippers to help them swim in the water.
2. The largest living species is the emperor penguin : on average adults are about 1.1 m (3 ft 7 in) tall and weigh 35 kg (77 lb) or more. The smallest penguin species is the little blue penguin, also known as the fairy penguin, which stands around 40 cm (16 in) tall and weighs 1 kg (2.2 lb)
3. Large penguin populations can be found in countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Argentina and South Africa. No penguins live in the North Pole!
4. Penguins can be playful. They like to go tobogganing. They will lay on their tummy and slide through the ice and snow. Penguins will also dive off cliffs into the water, get out and dive again for fun. The fastest species is the Gentoo Penguin, which can reach swimming speeds up to 22 mph.
5. Penguin’s black and white plumage serves as camouflage while swimming. The black plumage on their back is hard to see from above, while the white plumage on their front looks like the sun reflecting off the surface of the water when seen from below.
6. Penguins ingest a lot of seawater while hunting for fish, but a special gland behind their eyes—the supraorbital gland—filters out the saltwater from their blood stream. Penguins excrete it through their beaks, or by sneezing.
7. Like other birds, penguins don’t have teeth. Instead, they have backward-facing fleshy spines that line the inside of their mouths. These help them guide their fishy meals down their throat.
8. Penguins are carnivores: they feed on fish, squid, crabs, krill and other seafood they catch while swimming. During the summer, an active, medium-sized penguin will eat about 2 pounds of food each day, but in the winter they’ll eat just a third of that.
9. Once a year, penguins experience a catastrophic molt. (Yes, that’s the official term.) Most birds molt (lose feathers and regrow them) a few at a time throughout the year, but penguins lose them all at once. They can’t swim and fish without feathers, so they fatten themselves up beforehand to survive the 2–3 weeks it takes to replace them.
10. Lifespan of the Emperor penguin is 20 years, while lifespan of the Little penguin is 6-7 years
