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Posts Tagged ‘penguin fun’

Penguins are adorable, sociable animals with lots of quirky facts about their lifestyle, and the way that they live their daily lives. There’s a lot of media attention surrounding penguins, and there’s no wonder why – they’re completely endearing, with their adorable waddles and loveable demeanor, and comical tuxedo-like appearance.

Penguins are very social creatures – they love to communicate among each other, chattering away, squawking, and also using different body language to communicate different feelings and thoughts. They also use this kind of communication during breeding season, to find mates, as well as to warn one another when there are predators in sight.

Surprisingly, penguins don’t fear humans – they know that we’re no threat to them! Their main threats are things like predators like seals and whales, as well as oil spills, pollution, human land development, and the harvesting of their food.

Another surprising fact about penguins and humans? They can actually walk faster than humans! While their little waddle is obviously pretty comical, it actually allows them to walk incredibly quickly, even quicker than any human.

Penguins spend the majority of their lives in the water, and actually leap right out of the water while they’re swimming or paddling around. Many penguins can hold their breath for nearly 20 minutes while under water, allowing them to swim around and hunt for their prey. While on land, penguins will walk around, collecting stones, and then store them in the crop for later use. This helps them swim or float to the surface of the water quickly, since they need to breathe again quickly and easily after being under water for so long.

The penguin’s internal heating system is truly incredible. The body of the penguin is insulated with a layer of blubber, to keep them warm. Since penguins often live in Antarctic temperatures, it’s obviously important for them to be able to keep warm and stay that way, particularly in the freezing waters, which they will dive into in order to hunt for the small fish, krill and crustaceans that they often feed on. The penguin has more feathers on its body, layered and layered, over square inch, which helps to keep it warm in the frigid waters as well. The penguin will control its blood flow through its fat as well as relying on it for body heat. The penguin’s amazing body helps it keep warm and stay that way!


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