Who doesn’t love penguins? One of the most adored animals and yet one of the most misunderstood. The first thing most people think of when they picture a penguin is a snowy cold home. Penguins actually live exclusively below the equator with one exception. So, on the lower half of earth under the invisible equator line.

The penguin is a flightless bird, although they are said to fly underwater!

There are 18 species of penguin, with only 5 of the most well known penguins living in or near the Antarctic and surrounding islands, which are very cold and icy.

However, did you know that you can find penguins on the Galapagos Islands? The Galapagos Penguin are the only species found North of the Equator in South America where it is very warm. Most of them live in the Fernandina and Isabela islands. Sadly they are endangered. The Galápagos penguins are the smallest of the “banded” group of penguins. The banded group of penguins all have a similar band-like marking on their plumage.(Magellanic, Galapagos, African and Humbolt.) They are also sometimes called…. The (apologizes in advance ) jack-ass penguins, because they have a call that sounds a bit like a donkey also known as a jack-ass.

They weigh only 5-6 pounds, so small! However the Magellanic penguins are quite different, one of the banded penguins, they are found on the coast of South America, Chile, Argentina and the Falkland Islands. They are much larger and can be 2 feet tall and weigh on average 11 pounds. They are the only banded penguins that migrate. They are also the only ones that will hunt food offshore. They live in very large colonies when nesting. Digging almost tunnels to nest.

The penguins that live in warmer climates have a pretty neat adaptation to cool themselves. They stretch their flippers and covert their feet from the sun, by rounding their back and slumping forward to keep the sun’s rays off of their body. They also stay cool by swimming down in the deep water that is much cooler, They also will pant quickly to cool their bodies. The eggs are kept under cave-like nests to protect from the heat of the sun.

You have to wonder, how does a penguin bend over with the way they are shaped, they don’t really even look like a bird, with that short neck and thick body. I have drawn a picture to show you what they would look like if you x-rayed them. Look at that neck!

Penguins eat krill (a tiny shrimplike crustacean), squids and fish. Because they live in so many different places and biomes, the food will vary.

A very good question that kids often asked me at the zoo, “Do they drink water, and how?” Penguins hae a very cool gland (here comes a really big word) They have a Supraorbital gland. This gland is right above their eye, it can filter salt from their bloodstream, and is then released through their bill, by sneezing! They also will get what is called meltwater from pools and streams. Those that live where there is snow, will also eat snow.

There is just so much cool information to share and learn about penguins!

I do have a favorite penguin! Would you like to learn more? I will give you some hints, they are known as the blue, (yes, I said blue) penguin. They are also the tiniest of all of the penguins, weighing only 2 pounds! I hope that you investigate and find out more about them. I think that you will be surprised when you find out where they live!

I hope that you have fun investigating and learning about penguins. I wonder what your favorite will be and what you think that we can do to help protect them!

Here is a link that will have a list of all the penguin species. Http:// wwwbirdlife.org/ birds/ list- ofpenguin species/