Penguins home!

How can penguins deal with extreme cold weather?

In the middle of winter(mid-June), the weather is always far below zero. For adults, they may use these methods to keep warm:

As the temperature of water is much higher than that of air, penguins may jump into the water to keep warm.
However, the method above may not be useful because penguins have to take care for their eggs. As a result, they may huddle together to keep warm, sharing their body heat and shielding one another from the cold and wind. By huddling, the penguins can cut the loss of heat from their bodies by as much as 50%. This means they use up their precious store of body fat more slowly.
Penguins' body are well-prepared for cold weather. The tightly packed feathers reduce much heat loss by the outside temperature, so the snowflakes on them will not even melt.

Chinstrap penguins _____ Emperor penguins

The penguins are incubating their eggs.

About 5 months after the eggs hatch, the parents will not warm their chicks because they are too big. They will go to the sea to find food and the chicks will huddle together to keep warm.

Since the centre is warmer than outside, the penguins may change their position so that everyone will be at the centre for some time.

Mating time!

Penguins usually breed when they are 2-5 years old. Most penguins have only one mate in their life. When they find their partner, they will face each other, with beaks pointing skywards and wings thrown back, the courting pair hold themselves stiffly upright. They "sing" their own songs and bow to each other.

When they mate, the female penguin lies flat on the ground, the male penguin climbs on her back in a delicate balancing act. This usually lasts for a few seconds. If the female penguin don't love the male one, she may stand up and tip him off her back. For Emperor penguins, as soon as the eggs are laid, they are incubated by male penguins. The female penguins then reach the sea to look for food. After 60-70days of incubation, the eggs hatch. Finally, the female penguins come back and look after the chicks.

See how happy they are!

la~la~la~

mating

The young(left) and adult(right) Emperor penguins. How about if a penguin is neither young nor adult but in between? Click the arrow above to see how it looks.

How do baby penguins take their food?

The chicks take food from the parent's mouth. Five months later, their grey feathers are replaced by black and white feathers, which are waterproof. This is called moulting. Then, they can go and find food on their own.

Unfortunately, they are often attacked by their enemies, e.g. leopard seals. 40% of the penguins die when they are chicks, but they can also grow up to 50 years old.