In Europe, funny birds in black "tailcoats" became known at the beginning of the sixteenth century thanks to navigators from Portugal. Interesting facts about penguins immediately aroused sympathy among Europeans.
The name "penguin" comes from the English word penguin. According to one of the existing versions, translated from the Welsh pengwyn means - a white head. Which is very suitable for the description of these most interesting creatures of nature. Antarctic penguins are the only birds on the planet that cannot fly, but they are excellent swimmers and move on land.
Antarctic penguin species
This family of flightless birds includes about twenty species. People know many interesting facts about penguins. Representatives of each species have their own curious features that distinguish them from each other.
Magellanic and Magnificent Penguins belong to one of the smallest endangered speciesdisappearance.
Adelie is the most common species of the entire family. The name of the bird was given by the name of the area where they were first seen - Adele Land.
Galapagos - northern representatives of the genus. They live very close to the equator in the Galapagos archipelago at high temperatures that are not characteristic of penguins. These handsome men, unfortunately, may soon disappear from the face of the Earth, they are threatened with extinction.
Ganguan - This species is the third largest after emperor and king penguins.
Stone - these members of the family are aggressive and noisy, they have the most vicious disposition.
Imperial - the most famous species in the world. In addition to their large size, they stand out among their brethren by their extraordinary tolerance of severe frosts. Cold these birds do not care. They are found even on the mainland of Antarctica.
It is very sad to state that most of the species are now in danger of extinction.
Natural habitat of penguins
Penguins in nature live only in the southern hemisphere of the planet. Their habitat is Antarctica, Australia, South America, South Africa and New Zealand. Birds are found in the tropics, but this does not mean that the local waters are predominantly cold current. The Galapagos Islands are the warmest habitat for flightless birds. The largest penguin settlements are observed on the coast of Antarctica, nearby islands and huge ice floes.
Description
Antarctic penguins, depending onspecies category, differ significantly from each other in weight, height and appearance. Their weight can vary from 1 to 45-50 kg, and their height is from 30 cm to 1 meter, although some individuals are much taller and more massive. It depends on the climate in which the birds live. In those places where the air temperature is lower, the largest species live, the emperor penguin takes the lead in this list. The smallest penguins live in New Zealand and Australia, this species is called "small penguins". They weigh only about one kilogram.
The bodies of birds are streamlined, thanks to which they can swim freely and dexterously under water. They have developed muscles, muscle mass is about 30% of the total body weight. The bones are dense without cavities, which distinguishes penguins from flying birds, whose bones are tubular and light.
Three layers of numerous waterproof "hairs" - this is the plumage of handsome men in "tailcoats". The air between the feathers warms the body while swimming in cold water. During the molting period, the plumage completely changes. During the change of "clothing" birds cannot swim, therefore they are forced to remain hungry until such time as they "change clothes" in new feathers. It is worth noting that the penguins do not freeze thanks to a three-centimeter layer of fat.
What do penguins eat?
During the water, pretty divers see very well, much better than on land. When asked what penguins eat, the answer is simple - fish. Schooling species of these marine inhabitantsare the basis of the diet. Sardine, horse mackerel, anchovy are the favorite food of birds. Such a diet is diluted with squid and krill.
During the day, the penguin dives under water from 300 to 900 times to get food. During incubation and molting, when there is no opportunity to go fishing, birds can lose half of the total mass.
Wildlifestyle
A group of penguins communicate with each other using exclamations, and each species has its own sounds. Spectacled penguins make donkey-like calls.
As mentioned earlier, these cute creatures cannot fly, although they have wings, but they swim and dive superbly, and in extremely cold conditions. Under water, they are able to move at a speed of 10 km / h, but this is only on average. At short distances, the gentoo penguin, which is distinguished by its speed, can reach speeds of up to 30-35 km / h.
Birds accustomed to scuba diving can be under water without a break for 1-1.5 minutes, while diving to a depth of 15-20 meters. But then again, among all types of divers-record holders. The emperor penguin easily dives to a depth of about 500 meters and spends up to 15-18 minutes there.
Birds jump out of the water, the height of their jump can be up to 2 meters, thanks to which they immediately find themselves on land. Being on the shore, these excellent swimmers behave very clumsily. They walk slowly, waddling from side to side, partly in this way penguins save heat and energy. Wherethere is even the slightest ice slide, the birds fall on their stomachs and slide down like on a sled.
Reproduction
During the breeding season, penguins gather in large colonies to raise their chicks. The mating season for different species takes place at different times. To incubate eggs, birds build nests from what is “at hand”. It can be stones, grass, leaves. The exception is emperor and king penguins, they place their eggs in a special fold on their stomach. There they are until the chicks appear.
The incubation period lasts from one to two months. If initially there were two eggs, and two chicks hatched, then the parents give all their attention to their firstborn, and the second baby, as a result of such an unfair relationship between father and mother, may die of hunger, which happens in most cases.
Natural Enemies
The lives of penguins are constantly in danger. In nature, these cute creatures have plenty of enemies, not counting the destructive human activities, which most of all affect the decline in the Antarctic bird population.
The hardest thing is little penguins, about 50% of which die in the first year of their lives. The main enemies of the chicks are birds of prey, such as the giant southern petrel. In addition to the danger of dying from claws, babies are constantly threatened with death from starvation.
Marine predators are considered natural enemies of adult penguins. They include sharks, killer whales, fur seals, leopards and sea lions. About 6-10%birds are killed as a result of a collision with these animals.
To the above, we can add that feral dogs abandoned by people are also very dangerous for settlements of clumsy creatures that are not able to escape from enemies on land. In the twentieth century, entire colonies of penguins were destroyed by wild dogs in the Galapagos Islands.
Interesting facts about penguins
A lot of interesting things happen in the colonies of these flightless birds of different species. We present some interesting facts about penguins now to your attention:
• Real "kindergartens" are being created in penguin colonies. Chicks at the age of 4-6 weeks gather in one place, and several adult "caregivers" are left to watch the babies. Parents, therefore, can spend all their free time looking for food for themselves and their chicks.• Watching the penguins, you can see that when they come to the shore, at first they just stand, looking at each other, dive for a long time no one decides. After some time, there is one pioneer who boldly jumps into the water. Everyone else immediately follows him. This behavior is called the "penguin effect". By the way, the same situations are often created among people too.
• In order to swim faster, penguins move by jumping out of the water like dolphins.
• Birds can drink s alty sea water, as they have special glands that remove excess s alt from the body. • During warming, in order not to fall through the ice, penguins move,sliding on the belly, pushing off with paws and wings.
