penguin traits

penguin

penguin

 It is a type of waterfowl that is unable to fly, and this type of bird often lives in the southern hemisphere, but one type of these birds lives north of the equator and is the Galapagos penguin, where this type of bird is highly adapted to water,  Its body is covered with feathers so that it consists of two dark colors, which is predominant in addition to white, and it also has wings that are close to fins, and most of these birds feed on fish, squid and other forms of marine life that they catch underwater, and the penguin spends half its life on land and the other half  In the sea, and in this article we will explain more about this type of bird.

 The appearance of the short-legged penguin has impressed people all over the world, as the length of the legs is about 35 cm, and it weighs approximately one kilogram, most of these birds are black and the underside of them consists of white, and the color of the iris is limited  On the red or yellow in some species, and most of these birds have the color of the beak and legs in it tends to the red color.

 The number of these species of birds, such as the emperor, is estimated in the hundreds of thousands, and the number of smaller penguin species is estimated in the millions, and these numbers represent a potential food resource, but the economic importance of these birds is minimal, as hunters in the nineteenth century visited some of the places where penguins live for meat, eggs and industry  Penguin oil, and by the early 20th century this exploitation was no longer profitable.  Some species of penguins are also increasing due to the extinction of Antarctic whales in the mid-twentieth century, which compete with this type of birds for the krill or minute crustaceans that they feed on, and penguins are highly vulnerable to climate change, including global warming.

 Although all species of penguins live in the southern hemisphere, they are not only found in cold regions such as the frozen Antarctic continent, but there are only a few species of this bird that live in the southern part of the globe, where some species live  In temperate regions, however, this bird can only live by cold waters rich in cold currents, and although the Arctic and Antarctic climates are similar, there is no such bird in the Arctic.

 Large numbers of these birds are found in Angola, the frozen Antarctic, Argentina, Australia, Chile, Namibia, New Zealand and South Africa, and satellite images taken in 2018 show that the number of penguins of two million birds on the remote island of Ile Couchens in France has decreased to almost 200,000 birds.

 The diet of a penguin varies depending on where it is located, its species and the time of year as well, and in answer to the question "what do penguins eat?"  Most types of penguins feed on any animal that they can catch while swimming and diving. They eat any marine animal such as fish, squid, octopus, shrimp, crabs, etc. The parents of the penguins feed the little penguins by catching fish and krill with their mouths and then indoctrinating them to their young.  Krill is an important meal for baby penguins.

 Knowing that the penguin does not have teeth to help it chew its food as other birds do, but rather has spines facing back in its mouth that help it pass the prey to the throat for swallowing, and the average size penguin needs food in the summer months to 0.9 kilos on a daily basis