Basic information about Penguins:
- Penguins do not fly - They can swim very well - Penguins make nest on land - They cannot fly, but they can swim really well and spend a lot of their time in the sea. They spend around 75% of there time in water. They look like they are flying when they swim and leap across the top of the water. When they lay their eggs they raise their chicks on land. There are many different species of the penguin and they live in the southern hemisphere. - There are 17 different species of penguins - diet => eat fish, (such as krill and shrimp) and squid |
Habitat:
Some amounts of the penguin species live in the ice and snow. There habits ranges from the Antarctica to warmer waters which is close to he equator and as far north as the Galapagos Islands. They usually live on the islands and are in regions free from the land predators, because they can’t fly it is not detrimental to their survival. Penguins are found always near the nutrient-rich and the cold-water currents that provide them with supply of food. The seasons of the Southern Hemisphere are the opposite those of the Northern Hemisphere. When the continents above the equator experience the spring and the summer. areas below the equator experience fall and winter. |
Lifestyle:
They swim in and out of water and eat other fish in the sea such as shrimp and squid. The female eggs lay their eggs after mating. Most of the species build nests, but the nests are made of piles of rocks or scrapings in dirt. The emperor penguins do not build nests => the males hold the egg on the top of their feet under a skin. The hatched chicks keep them warm. The Penguin’s life is a story about survival and reproduction in hard climates on earth. Penguin’s have adapted to flat, stable, sea ice with there predators other than extreme cold and leopard seals that are offshore. There diet consists of mostly fish but also crustaceans and cephalopods. They hunt species can for around 18 minutes and diving to depth of 50m, as they repasts the sequence around half a dozen times. There lifespan is around 20 years in the while and some aberrations suggest they live up to 50 years of age.
Structural and Adaptations: of Emperor Penguins
The penguins have big head and a short, thick necks. There heavy bones which allow them to stay underwater. Their wings developed into flippers. There webbed feet which they used when they are swimming. The penguins have a white colour on there belly and the darker colours on their back. When the predators underwater look at the penguins, white part is hard to see against the light. They have a thick layer of fat to help them be warmer and have waterproof feathers to keep the skin dry. The penguins have more feathers than a lot of other birds around about 70 feathers. Emperor Penguins are the tallest and heaviest of all penguins species and only lives in the Antarctica. They have small bills and flippers, which helps them get heat and they have special nasal chambers that minimise the heat. As the arteries and veins are close together, emperor penguins have the ability to recycle their own body heat.
Behavioral Adaptations: Emperor Penguins
The penguins spend around 75% of their lives in the water. They do all of their hunting in the water and the prey can be found around 60 feet of the surface and the penguins have no need to swim in the water. They catch there prey in theirs beaks and swallow them whole. They produce oil from a gland near the tail that they use to coat their feathers. Penguins have very little sense of smell and taste of food. They are the only species that breeds during the winter in the Antarctic, it walks around 50-120km over the ice to the breeding colonies. The female lays the egg and the male is the incubated while the female goes to the sea to feed. Emperor penguins have unique behavioral adaptations that enable them to survive in the winter. They huddle together in winter to conserve heat, they wouldn’t be able to survive in the antarctic winter. They share body warmth, but they also have shelters many of the penguins from the wind. The huddling reduces heat loss from 50%. They are different to other penguin species they are not aggressively territorial.There are no nest made, eggs then chicks sit on the parents feet and cover a fold of skin to keep them warm. The female goes to sea ad will not return for average of 115 days. |
Bibliography
http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/penguin.htm
http://www.defenders.org/penguins/basic-facts
http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/wildlife/antarctic_animal_adaptations.htm
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/wildlife/animals/adapting-to-the-cold
http://bio4esobil2009.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/emperor-penguin-adaptations/
http://www.defenders.org/penguins/basic-facts
http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/wildlife/antarctic_animal_adaptations.htm
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/wildlife/animals/adapting-to-the-cold
http://bio4esobil2009.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/emperor-penguin-adaptations/