Penguins Up Close

Part One · Birds That Swim

A penguin is a bird, but it cannot fly. Its wings have turned into stiff flippers, and it uses them to swim. Under the water, it seems to fly. It zooms along like a bird in the sky. Penguins can even leap out of the sea onto the ice.

There are about eighteen kinds of penguins. The tallest is the emperor, and it stands about four feet high. That is as tall as a kindergartner. The smallest is the little penguin. It is only about one foot tall. Penguins come in many sizes.

Almost all penguins live in the southern half of the world. Many live around icy Antarctica. But one kind lives on the Galapagos Islands, right on the equator, where it is warm. So not every penguin lives in the snow.

Penguins are made for the cold sea. They have thick, oily feathers that keep the water out. Under the skin is a layer of fat that keeps them warm. The feathers are packed so close that they feel like a fuzzy coat.

A penguin is a very good swimmer. The fastest kind is the gentoo, and it can swim about twenty miles an hour. That is about as fast as a kid can ride a bike downhill. It steers with its feet and tail.

Most penguins are black on the back and white on the front. This helps them hide while they swim. From above, a black back looks like the dark water. From below, a white tummy looks like the bright sky. It is a clever disguise.

A penguin drinks sea water, and sea water is very salty. But a penguin has a special part near its eyes that takes the salt out. The extra salt comes out of its beak. Sometimes the penguin just sneezes it out.

Part Two · Family Life

Walking on ice is hard, so penguins have another trick. They lie down on their bellies and slide. They push with their feet and flippers. This is called tobogganing, and it is much faster than walking on the ice. Penguins slide a lot.

Penguins live in big groups called colonies. Some colonies hold thousands of birds. They all sound the same to us, but each penguin has its own call. A penguin can find its mate in a noisy crowd by listening for that call.

One kind of penguin, the Adelie, has a gift for its mate. It picks up a smooth pebble and puts it down in front of her. Later, the pebbles are used to build the nest. A good pebble is a very nice gift.

A mother emperor lays one egg in the middle of the Antarctic winter. Then she goes to sea to find food. The father stays behind. He keeps the egg warm on top of his feet, under a warm flap of skin.

The father holds the egg for about two months. All that time, he does not eat. The winter wind blows, and it gets very cold. The fathers stand close together in a big group to stay warm. The cold is very hard on them.

In the group, the birds take turns. The ones on the cold edge slowly move toward the middle, where it is warm. Then others take their place on the edge. That way, every bird gets a turn to be warm.

When the egg hatches, the mother comes home with food for the chick. The chick knows its own mother by her call. Out of thousands of birds, the baby always finds her. That may be the best penguin fact of all.