Where Knowledge Rules

Home:

Pets & Animals

Get a Widget for this title

Bird facts: Penguins

by fungus in the lungs.

How do penguins live? Penguins live in colonies and make nests to live in. Thousands of penguins live together in a colony. Penguins call with a sound like a donkey that makes a colony very noisy. The penguins remember other penguins by their voice. To make a nest shallow burrows are dug under rocks are brush. Colonies will usually be found on sloped ground or at least slightly sloped. Penguins nest are close together.

What do penguins do to pass the day? Caring for their feathers takes up a lot of a penguin's time. The feathers are important in the cold temperatures therefore they must be well cared for. Three hours a day at least are devoted to taking care of feathers. A gland at the end of the tail releases oil that is then spread over the feathers. This keeps the feathers water-repellant. They care for feathers in the water and on land.

Another thing penguins do to pass the day is of course hunt for food. Adult penguins will go out to sea to find food for their chicks. Time at sea is divided into four different phases. Penguins first travel to the area to feed. Then reaching a hunting location they search for food. Penguins catch prey, and then return to their colony. When penguins get far enough away from the shore on these trips to sea they start travel diving. Shallow short dives taking less than two minutes and going no more than 10 ft. Penguins dive in order to get food. They are excellent divers being able to stay underwater for 2-3 minutes. Penguins rest a lot at surface when out at sea usually for 10-30 seconds each break. When starting out to sea penguins form groups of usually a dozen are more penguins.

Breeding also takes up days of a penguin's life. Penguins seldom visit land except to raise their young chicks. A pair of penguins nest together and may do this for numerous years. The female lays one pale green or blue egg or sometimes two. It takes the eggs 30-65 days to hatch. The eggs have to be incubated all this time. Parent penguins both care for the egg and search for food in turns. At nest a parent does not eat for possibly a month or longer. When the chick hatches parents guard it only until it can defend itself. Chicks remain close by the nest for 2 to 12 months. They eat partly digested food given them by their parents. The parents are kept busy getting food for the young chicks, as they need food to grow and stay warm.

What happens when a chick gets older? Older chicks being five months old will leave their


Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

Bird facts: Penguins

  • 1 of 8

    by Joel Stottlemire

    Why Do Penguins Sleep Standing Up?

    Here's a little puzzler the daughter of a friend of mine came up with the other day;

    read more

  • 2 of 8

    by Aldo Bonincontro

    My favourite birds are surely penguins and I hope to have the chance, in my life, to see them in their natural environment,

    read more

  • 3 of 8

    by L. Beall

    Penguins of which there are seventeen species are a member of the Spheniscidae family. The seventeen species of penguin

    read more

  • 4 of 8

    by Shirley Gooding

    While studying natural geography with a community college group in 2005 I had the pleasure of viewing several species of

    read more

  • 5 of 8

    by Tracy Bishop

    Life of Penguins

    Penguins are becoming a part of our lives having been made popular with movies about penguins. Now, stuff

    read more

View All Articles on:
Bird facts: Penguins

Add your voice

Know something about Bird facts: Penguins?
We want to hear your view. Write_penWrite now!

Helium Debate

Cast your vote!

Should rats and mice be added to the Animal Welfare Act for research?

Click for your side.

150468

Featured Partner

Hope 4 Kids International

Hope 4 Kids International's mission is to bring hope and necessary care to kids around the world through health, dign...more

What is Helium? | Buy Web Content | Contact Us | Privacy | User agreement | DMCA | User Tools | Help | Community | Helium’s Official Blog | Link to Helium

Helium, Inc.
200 Brickstone Square Andover, MA 01810 USA