Meet the penguins
International Penguin Day| BBC
Did you know…Every 20th of January and 25th of April, animalist and environmentalist organizations celebrate the Penguin Day from different countries in order to raise awareness about the preservation and conservation of these beautiful species.
The missmanagement of commercial fisheries, pollution, climate change and the destruction of their natural habitat are the main factors that have left many of them vulnerable and others endangered. Although all the species of penguins in the world are protected and there are laws that prevent them from being hunted; yet the violation of these laws happens on a large scale.
Here we share with you 10 curious facts that you didn’t know about this species!
- All penguins have a natural camouflage against predators. The white front of a penguin hides them from the predators that lurk from below and their black backs hide them from the top predators.
- There are some penguins that are completely white, although they are quite rare, they do not have the camouflage of the other penguins, so they are more accessible prey for predators.
- It is believed that the word “penguin” comes from two Welsh words meaning “head” and “white” (although penguins do not have white heads).
- The penguins are “warm-blooded” and can maintain a body temperature of 39° C (102.2° F), even in the frigid Antarctic winter. This is thanks to its layers of fat and feathers trapping a layer of warm air next to the skin that serves as insulation.
- Most of them can move at a total speed from to 6 to 12 km/h (from 4 to 8 m/h) underwater, however the fastest penguin can reach remarkable speeds of 36 km/h (23 m/h).
Penguins underwater
- They do not have land predators, but leopard seals and killer whales are dangerous predators when they are in the sea.
- Penguins eat stones, which are used to digest food and are probably also useful in reducing buoyancy in water.
- Most species are monogamous, that is, they have only one partner throughout their lives. In 2012, argentine researchers discovered that a pair of Magellanic penguins had remained faithful to each other for 16 years, despite being separated for long periods.
Monogamy on penguins
- In some species, the male penguin is the one that incubates the eggs while the females hunt for weeks. Because of this, chubby males, with enough fat storage, are the most attractive for females.
- If the baby of a female dies, she will “kidnap” a chick from another female, to keep it.
- They are able to drink salt water because they have a special gland inside their bodies that filters excess salt from their bloodstream. This allows them to live around the bodies of salt water and survive, since they do not need to have fresh water nearby.
Now that you know more about these cute mammals, come to Gulf World to meet our loving friends. We will wait for you!