What's black, white and adorable all over? Penguins! Find out all about penguins on Kidzworld!
A Day in the Life
We all know penguins are adorable, but there's a lot more to their lives than just being cute! Penguins are flightless birds, but they have flippers to help them swim. In fact they spend around half their time in the water. Penguins often live in cold climates - but not at the North Pole. In fact, most penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere. You can find penguins in countries you may not expect - like the Galapagos Islands, New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Argentina and South Africa as well as Antarctica.
Many penguins live in the Antarctic
Unlike us, penguins can drink seawater, and they eat all kinds of fish and underwater sealife. Their black and white coloring is actually camouflage for when they're underwater.
Baby penguin
Fun Facts!
- There are 17 species of penguin
- They may not have ears, but penguins have incredible hearing! They use distinct calls to find their mates when returning to their breeding ground
- Emperor penguins are the tallest penguin at around 4 feet tall
- The smallest penguins are called Little Blue penguins, they're around 13- 16 inches tall (they're also called fairy penguins!)
- The oldest penguin fossil fund is 60 million years old - meaning they may have been around to see the dinosaurs!
- Penguins in the Antarctic don't have any natural predators
- Instead of molting one feather at a time, penguins molt all at once in what's called a "catastrophic molt."
- Gentoo penguins are the fastest, they swim at 22 mph!
Emperor Penguins
Did You Know...
If you don't believe in true love - just look to penguins, they often have the same mate for life, and many are even loyal to their nesting site, there's no place like home right?
Have Your Say
What do you think of penguins? Are they your favorite animal? Let us know in the comments section below
