All About Penguins

Written by: Sitara Nair

Brrrr! Imagine living where it’s freezing cold all the time, would you love it or shiver away? Penguins don’t mind at all! In fact, they’re built for chilly adventures. Let’s find out how these little tuxedo-wearing birds survive in the chilliest places on Earth!

Size and Diet

Penguins come in all shapes and sizes! The emperor penguin is the tallest, reaching an impressive 44 inches, while the tiny fairy penguin, the smallest of the species, stands at just 16 inches. Some penguins are quite heavy, emperor penguins can weigh up to 100 pounds! Others, like the fairy penguin, are light as a feather, weighing only about 2.2 pounds. Penguins live off of seafood, they mostly eat fish, squid, and crustaceans! In the Antarctic, smaller penguins, like the fairy penguins, eat small shrimp-like animals called krill. Though they are small, krills are packed in protein, making it a very tasty snack for penguins! 

Habitat/Location

Though everyone imagines that penguins only live in Antarctica, they can also be found on other continents! Penguins are found across the Southern hemisphere, in places like South Africa, Chile, Peru, Australia, and New Zealand. The only penguins found north of the equator are the African penguin and the Galápagos penguin! The emperor penguin, among other famous types of penguins, lives in Antarctica, but there are other penguins found in countries like South Africa! Some penguins love the icy environment of Antarctica, but others prefer sandy and tropical shores of other countries, some penguins can even live for months in the sea! 

Fun Facts!

• Penguins don’t have teeth! They actually only have serrated ridges at the top of their mouth used to break up food, it’s pretty off-putting to look at. 

• Penguins originated from Australia. Though they are associated with Antarctica, recent studies have shown that their ancient ancestors were actually inhabitants of Australia!

• There are a couple of commonly used names for a group of Penguins, the main ones being: colony, huddle, rockery, or even a waddle!

• Penguins look like they're dressed in tuxedos because of their black backs and white bellies! But this isn’t just for style,it’s called countershading. Their dark backs blend in with the ocean from above, while their white bellies match the bright surface from below, helping them stay safe from predators and sneak up on prey!

Endangerment 

Penguins are sadly pretty endanger. Despite being well adapted to their environments, big changes caused by humans are making life hard for them. Their homes are being destroyed, the ocean is getting polluted, and their food is getting harder to find because of too much fishing. One of the biggest problems is climate change, because the ice they need to find food and build nests is melting too fast for them to keep up!

WE can help the penguins by: reducing our use of plastic, reducing our carbon footprint, and even working with campaigns/organizations whose goal is to save the penguins!!

Organizations that help penguins:

https://www.globalpenguinsociety.org/

https://wildnet.org/wildlife-programs/penguin/

https://www.penguinsinternational.org/

References

International Fund for Animal Welfare. “Penguin Facts: Diet, Behavior, Habitat & Conservation | IFAW.” IFAW, n.d. https://www.ifaw.org/animals/penguins.

“Penguins Facts and Information | United Parks & Resorts,” n.d. https://seaworld.org/animals/facts/birds/penguins/.

British Antarctic Survey. “Penguins - British Antarctic Survey,” November 4, 2020. https://www.bas.ac.uk/about/antarctica/wildlife/penguins/.

Goldstein, Hannah. “10 Facts About Penguins.” World Animal Protection US, October 7, 2023. https://www.worldanimalprotection.us/latest/blogs/10-facts-about-penguins/.

BirdLife International. “Penguins - BirdLife International,” November 1, 2021. https://www.birdlife.org/birds/penguins/.