Penguins
These are king penguins.
This is a gentoo penguin (say jentoo).
Photo from Pixabay is in the public domain.
Penguins have wings but do not fly. They use their wings as flippers to swim. |
Penguins spend most of their time in the sea.
Penguins spend most of their time in the sea.
A squid
|
This is krill.*
|
Once a year they go onto land to lay eggs. Lots of penguins lay eggs near each other. We call this a rookery or a colony. On land, a group of penguins can also be called a waddle. |
A rookery of royal penguins
Parents brood their eggs and their chicks once they are born. Brooding means to keep something warm.
Photo from Pixabay is in the public domain.
Penguins have a brood patch. A brood patch is a patch of featherless skin. As it has no feathers, this patch of skin transfers heat to the egg or to the hatched chick.
|
Chicks usually hatch from their eggs in December. The mum and dad both care for their chick and feed it. |
Emperor penguin chicks
Penguin chicks grow quickly. In about 6 months they lose their fluffy, brown feathers and grow black and white ones. |
This king penguin chick has lost lots of its brown feathers.
Penguins' feathers help them to hide from predators. From the sky, they could look quite similar to the dark sea.
|
Photo from Pixabay is in the public domain.
Penguins live in different places. Some penguins live in Antarctica.
Almost all penguins live in the southern hemisphere. Galápagos penguins live in the southern and northern hemisphere as the Galápagos Islands cross the equator. |