- Penguins are birds with black and white feathers and a funny waddle.
But unlike most birds, penguins are not able to fly -- in the air that
is.
- Penguins spend as much as 75% of their time underwater, searching
for food in the ocean.
- When they are in the water, they dive and flap their wings. It looks
just like they are flying!
- Their body is built for the most efficient swimming with their average
speed in the water being about 15 miles per hour.
- They are warm blooded, just like people with a normal body temperature
of about 100 degrees F.
- Penguins eat seafood. Their main diet is fish, though they'll also
eat squid, small shrimplike animals called "krill" (see photo
to the right) and crustaceans.
- They also have backward facing bristles on their tongue that helps
slippery seafood from getting away.
- Penguins don't live near freshwater -- at least none that isn't frozen.
Instead they drink salt water. They have a special gland in their bodies
that takes the salt out of the water they drink and pushes it out of
grooves in their bill.
- Penguins' bones are solid and heavy, which help them to remain submerged
and reduce the energy needed for pursuit diving.
- Some species can reach depths of 1000 feet or more and stay submerged
for up to 25 minutes, though most prefer shorter, shallower dives
- Penguins generally breed in large, dense colonies called 'rookeries',
some with 180,000 or more birds
- Most penguins build nests of stone and there they incubate one or
two eggs.
- Natural enemies of the penguin include seals, Killer whales, and,
in the case of young chicks and eggs, several species of seabirds.
- Healthy adult penguins have no predators on land, so they have no
natural fear of humans.
- While they don't like to be approached directly, these naturally
curious birds will sometimes come quite close to a quiet observer to
get a better look.
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