Here’s a thought – Penguins should just rule the world. It doesn’t matter whether they are skinny dipping in the sea, doing conga lines on land or winning hearts on big screens; these awesome birds are always making hearts warm. These amazing birds can literally do anything (except fly, of course). But the sad part is, penguins are doing so good in the wild; Out of the 17 species that are found all around the world, 5 of them are considered to be endangered and 8 are threatened or vulnerable, thanks to overfishing, melting sea ice, poaching and other environmental threats.
This is the reason why all of us celebrate Penguin Awareness Day every January 20th. No one quite knows how this tradition started, but the purpose is very simple: that all of us can take out some time to reflect on the coolness of penguins and also come up with ideas on how to save them while we’re at it.
In honor of Penguin Awareness Day, here are some cool facts about these majestic, classy-looking birds:
Special Gland
Penguins have a special gland in their body that allows them to filter salt out of their bloodstream, allowing them to gulp down mouthfuls of seawater while swimming. The salty brine is then pumped out of their nostrils, giving them a constant case of the sniffles and causing them to shake their heads a lot.
Parenting Skills
Penguins are hands down the greatest when it comes to parenting. Even though it’s a fact that penguin parents are monogamous during mating season, Magellanic, Gentoo, and Royal penguins partner up for life. Their co-parenting skills will leave you speechless and are almost unparalleled in the bird world. They have even been seen mourning over the loss of their chicks.
Emperors
With a weight of more than 77 pounds and standing at almost 4 feet, the Emperor Penguin earns its name and its title as the largest species of penguin today. These penguins have around 80 feathers per square inch, which is more than any other bird. So they are basically just fluffy ball of feathers. They also have well-crafted wetsuits which help them survive during the annual march to their breeding grounds in Antarctica. The march is sometimes even more than 70 miles and the temperatures can fall as low as -40 degree Celsius.
Colossus Penguin
In 2014, scientists discovered a prehistoric penguin species—known as the “Colossus Penguin”—that stood at almost 7 feet tall. The species was found in Antarctica, and is predicted to be about 37 million years old.
Little Penguins
Almost over a foot tall and even less than 4 pounds, Little Penguins (or Fairy Penguins) are the smallest penguins in the world and they are also probably the most adorable cardigan models out there.
Underwater Prodigies
Though penguins might look funny walking on the land (also known as their funny waddle), penguins are quite slick with their slippers. “In water they are masters of their element, speeding through the depths with unbelievable power, as graceful as porpoises, as fast as sharks,” Audubon field editor and bird expert Kenn Kaufman says. The Gentoo Penguin is the fastest swimmer and reaches speeds of up to 30 miles per hour, while the Emperor Penguin can hold its breath for up to 22 minutes while scavenging underwater.
African Penguin
The African Penguin has been given a very unique nickname: Scientists often call it the “jackass penguin” because it makes a sound that resembles a donkey’s bray. You may not like the sound of that very much but that’s how the penguins communicate with other members of their family.
Penguins and Polar Bear Relationship
I think we’ve reached a point where we should not believe everything we see on TV: Penguins and polar bears are never neighbors – except for maybe at your local zoo you visited when you were 8. Penguins have only known to exist in the southern hemisphere while the polar bears are only found around the North Pole. The northernmost penguin, the Galapagos Penguin, is found just below the Equator on the islands of Fernandina and Isabela.
Countershading
The light front and dark back tuxedo-like coloration of classic penguin plumage is called countershading. This mix of pattern provides penguins a brilliant camouflage from above and below to protect themselves in the water. It also helps them with disguising from their prey so they can hunt more successfully. Male and female penguins look alike and have the same coloration.
Highly Social
Penguins are highly social, colonial birds that form breeding colonies called rookeries numbering in the tens of thousands. Many generations may use the same nesting grounds for even thousands of years, and the largest colonies can number in the millions, with many penguins staying with the same mates for years. Parents and chicks use their superb hearing to easily keep track of one another even in a crowd.
Catch Their Food in Sea
Penguins are carnivores and they catch all of their food live from the sea. Depending on the species they can eat a variety of different marine animals, including squid, fish, shrimp, crabs, krill, and other crustaceans. Because their diets are so specialized, penguins are called piscivorous.
Penguins’ Eyes
Penguins’ eyes work better underwater than they do in the air, giving them superior eyesight to spot prey while hunting, even in dark, cloudy, or murky water, or where water is turbulent.
Parental Duties
Emperor penguin males incubate their eggs for two months in the winter without eating while the females go to the sea. During that time, male penguins live off their body’s fat reserves and may lose up to half of their body weight. When the females return shortly after the chicks hatch, they switch parental duties, and this time the females fast while the males go to sea to replenish their fat stores.
Penguin Population
Penguins have many natural predators depending on their habitat, including sea lions, orcas, leopard seals, skuas, sharks, snakes, and foxes. Artificial threats are also a problem for penguins, including oil spills and other pollution, climate change that alters the distribution of food sources, invasive predators such as rats, and illegal poaching and egg harvesting. Fortunately, many penguins are receptive to captive breeding programs, and those successes in zoos, aviaries, and marine parks can help preserve penguin populations.
And in case you think one holiday doesn’t do justice to them or is not enough, there’s also World Penguin Day on April 25, which celebrates the Emperor Penguins’ months-long march across the Antarctic ice shelf. Until then, you can get your penguin fix by reading more about their mightiness or watching random videos.