What a fun December we had with the scare of snow. I thought it was pretty, and watched it coming down for the whole hour it sprinkled it self on my lawn. Hopefully our winter will be docile and we will get some rain this year. I always associate cold with winter but we actually have a nice winter most years. Winter this year is actually official on December 21, 2009. I am not a big fan of January, its cold and wet and ucky and most folks are broke from the holiday and….. with all that being said, I was trying to think of some nice and positive things to talk about for January. One nice thing that popped into my head was we don’t live where it is really, really cold. And another one was THANK GOODNESS we are not penguins. That one stuck, and I paused for a moment and thanked God. I don’t think I would have liked being one.
I have always been intrigued with penguins, they have some very unusual qualities and are a very interesting species. Did you know that Penguins are birds? They are highly adapted to the aquatic life. The first documentation of penguins date back to the 1600’s. Although they are a type of bird even, none of the species are able to fly. Scientists believe that they had to adapt to living in the water rather than just on land in order to survive. As a result what was once feathers and wings for them to fly became flappers for them to swim with but they lost the ability to fly.
Penguins feed in the ocean on squid, fish, krill and some other forms of
sea life. The largest of the penguin species is The Emperor
Penguin. Most penguins live in very cold climates but not
exclusively. Some live in the Galapagos islands, near the equator.
Penguin are active communicators Vocalization is the key way in
which penguins communicate with each other. While they can create unique
sounds, they don’t have the best range of hearing. Instead it is
believed they can often pick up mainly on the vibrations from the
various sounds around them.
Penguins are able to dive a long way into the water for food. Depending on the species, that distance can be up to 1,700 feet. However, they do need to surface for air on a regular basis. The period of time that they can remain under the water without doing so is from two minutes to twenty minutes depending on the species.
Penguins are oriented by the sun Penguins are often seen looking
upwards, and they do this to find out where they sun is in the sky. That
is how they determine when they should be in the water and when they
should be on land.
• Penguins are able to stay underwater with the help of their bones which are solid and heavy.
• Penguins have a breastbone and huge paddle muscles which help them move at speeds of 25 miles per hour.
• While traveling at fast speeds, penguins leap out of the water every few feet. This action is called "Porpoising." Porpoising helps penguins breathe. The chances of being spotted by another animal is also greatly reduced because of porpoising.
• About 75% of a penguins life is spent in water, where they do all their hunting.
• Most of the time penguins breed in large colonies called rookeries.
• Penguins closer to the Equator feed on fish while those closer to the Antarctica eat more squid and krill.
• Penguins stay warm with the help of a thick layer of blubber and a waterproof body covering. As many as 5,000 penguins will bunch together to warm each other up.
• Penguins are found on every continent in the southern hemisphere, from the tropical Galapagos Islands off South America to the Antarctica.
• The natural enemies of penguins are seals and killer whales.
• Adult penguins incubate and feed their chicks in turns, once they have hatched.
• The King and Emperor penguins lay one egg each.
• Penguins have one mate and they mate for life.
I’ve always loved penguins because they are curious characters and have some very interesting facts about them.
Hopefully we will have a nice and sunny, not too cold winter, unlike the penguins in cold climates who don’t have that choice.