12 ways that penguins are incredible
Adorable, flightless penguins continue to captivate people. On Penguin Awareness Day, we celebrate them and the ways they are incredible.
Big bird
King penguins (seen in the Falkland Islands) are second only to the emperor penguin in size. Adult emperor penguins typically are about 3.75 feet tall. Fossils of the largest penguin species ever discovered were unearthed in Antarctica; the species was about 6 feet 5 inches tall and lived about 40 million years ago.
Don't break it: only one egg each season
During each breeding season, king penguins (an adult is shown here with several chicks) and emperor penguins lay only one egg. King and emperor penguins also are serially monogamous. They have only one mate each year.
Stay-at-home dads
Common gender roles are reversed in emperor penguins (shown). The female goes out to hunt while the male incubates the egg. Once the egg is hatched, the male produces milk for the chick from a gland in his esophagus, National Geographic reports.
Not too far south
Penguins in the wild mostly live in the Southern Hemisphere, but some live in temperate climates, including the Galapagos penguin, which can be found near the equator. Penguins can drink salt water because their supraorbital gland filters the salt from their bloodstream.
Hey, good lookin'
With their yellow feather plumes and red bills, crested penguins (shown) arguably are the flashiest penguins. During the breeding cycle, both partners must undergo long periods of fasting, up to 40 days, Penguin World reports.
My nest is better than yours
Male Adélie penguins (shown) are nest builders. They try to attract a female by building the most impressive nest with small rocks. If they think their nest is lacking, they will steal rocks from neighbors' nests.
Givers and fast swimmers
Male gentoo penguins give pebbles to females (shown) to add to their nests. Gentoo penguins are the world’s fastest underwater birds; they can reach speeds of up to 22 miles an hour.
Waterproof coat
Penguins produce oil from a gland near their tails, which acts as a waterproof coat for their feathers.
Cooling down naturally
Humboldt penguins (shown) live along the shores of Peru and Chile. During the hottest months of the year, the penguins can beat the heat through the patches of bare, pink skin around their eyes and bills. The birds shed heat through these featherless spots.
Same time next year
Rockhopper penguins (shown) are found among the craggy, windswept shorelines of islands north of Antarctica, from Chile to New Zealand. They return to the same breeding ground, and often to the same nest, each year and usually seek out the previous year's mate, National Geographic reports.
Mating for life
African penguins (shown) mate for life. The male and female penguins share incubation duties to keep their eggs warm and safe from predators.
They own Antarctica
There are 12 million penguins living in Antarctica.
Chile said at least 58 people who were at military bases in Antarctica or on a navy ship that went to the continent tested positive for the coronavirus.