Penguin Facts

 

 

 

 

                    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Penguins cannot taste!

Antarctica is not the only home for penguins. In fact, Galapagos penguins live near the Equator.

 

In the prehistoric era some penguins were as tall and heavy as adult humans!

 

Emperor penguins are known to dive as deep as 1,854 ft (565 m) and for as long as 22 minutes.

 

Did you know that while huddling together to keep warm penguins will rotate positions to make sure that each penguin gets a turn in the center? 

 

Penguins' flippers have at least three branches of the axillary artery, which allows cold blood to be heated by blood that has already been warmed and limits heat loss from the flippers.

 

They can drink salt water because their supraorbital gland filters excess salt from the bloodstream. The salt is excreted in a concentrated fluid from the nasal passages.

 

Penguins, for the most part, breed in large colonies.

 

Penguins form monogamous pairs for the breeding season.

 

While most penguins lay two eggs in a clutch, the two largest species (the emperor and the king penguins) lay only one.

 

All penguins share incubation duties except for the emperor penguin because the male does it all!

 

Penguin eggs are smaller than any other bird species when compared proportionally to the weight of the parent birds.

 

When mothers lose a chick, they sometimes attempt to "steal" another mother's chick, usually unsuccessfully as other females in the vicinity will join together to fend off the thief.