Movement [ | ]
Penguin underwater
"Swimming as a Dolphin"
Penguin skeleton diving
The average speed that penguins develop in water is from five to ten kilometers per hour, but higher rates are possible over short distances. The most in a fast way movement is “dolphin swimming”; in this case, the animal jumps out of the water for a short time, like a dolphin. The reasons for this behavior are unclear: it is likely to reduce current resistance, or is intended to confuse natural enemies.
Penguins in Antarctica
Penguins jumping out of the water
During the day, while feeding, penguins can swim about 27 km; at a depth of more than 3 meters, birds spend an average of about 80 minutes per day. Some penguins break diving records: smaller species such as the gentoo penguin ( Pygoscelis papua), can stay underwater for one or (rarely) more than two minutes and dive to depths of up to 20 meters, but emperor penguins can stay underwater for 18 minutes and dive to depths of more than 530 meters. Although the superpowers of emperor penguins remain poorly understood, it is known that when diving, the animal's pulse is reduced to one-fifth of its resting heart rate; Thus, oxygen consumption is reduced, which allows you to increase the duration of stay under water with the same volume of air in the lungs. The mechanism for regulating body pressure and temperature when diving to great depths remains unknown.
When leaving the water, penguins can jump to overcome the height coastline up to 1.8 m. Due to their relatively short legs on land, penguins move by waddling from side to side - this method of movement, as biomechanical studies have proven, saves a lot of energy. On land, penguins reach speeds of 3-6 km/h. On ice, penguins can also move quickly - they slide down mountains while lying on their stomachs. Some species travel many kilometers between the sea and the place where their colony has settled.
Habitat [ | ]
Penguin habitat
The ancestors of penguins lived in a temperate climate - when Antarctica was not yet a solid piece of ice. The climate on the planet was changing. The continents drifted, Antarctica shifted to the South Pole and became covered eternal ice. The animals left or died out, but the penguins, having adapted to the cold, remained. True, there used to be much more of them - in the course of evolution, at least 40 species that inhabited our planet more than 60 million years ago became extinct. Among the fossil penguins there were real giants (such as one recently found in Peru Icadyptes salasi) as tall as a person and weighing up to 120 kg.
Penguins live in the high seas of the Southern Hemisphere: in the coastal waters of Antarctica, New Zealand, southern Australia, South Africa, along the entire coast of South America from the Falkland Islands to Peru, and the Galapagos Islands near the equator. Penguins prefer cool weather, so in tropical latitudes they appear only with cold currents - the Humboldt Current on the west coast South America or the Benguela Current, which arises at the Cape of Good Hope and washes the western coast of South Africa.
Most species live between 45° and 60° south latitude; the largest concentration of individuals is in Antarctica and on the adjacent islands.
The warmest habitat for penguins is the Galapagos Islands, located near the equator.
Reproduction [ | ]
- Genus Aptenodytes J. F. Miller, 1778 - Emperor penguins
- Genus Eudyptes Vieillot, 1816 - Crested penguins
- Genus Eudyptula Bonaparte, 1856 - Lesser penguins
- Genus Megadyptes Milne-Edwards, 1880 - Magnificent Penguins
- Genus Pygoscelis Wagler, 1832 - Chinstrap penguins
- Genus Spheniscus Brisson, 1760 - Spectacled penguins
Interesting fact [ | ]
The largest of the modern representatives is the emperor penguin (height - 110-120 cm, weight up to 46 kg), the smallest are representatives of the species Eudyptula minor- small penguin (height 30-45 cm, weight 1-2.5 kg). Such significant differences are explained by Bergmann's rule, for which penguins are frequent example. Bergman's rule states that animals living in cold regions have larger body sizes, since this contributes to a more rational ratio of the volume and surface of the animal's body and thereby reduces heat loss.
Evolution [ | ]
Penguins and man[ | ]
The first acquaintance of a penguin and a person took place, obviously, in Australia: during archaeological excavations at the sites of ancient people, bones were found indicating that penguins were part of the diet of Australian aborigines in prehistoric times.
In Europe, penguins became known only at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries thanks to the voyages of the Portuguese navigators Vasco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan. The first known mention of these birds is in the diary of Vasco da Gama in an entry dated November 25, 1497, when the navigator was in the area modern city Mosselbay on the coast of South Africa. There he saw the penguins known today as the Donkey (Spheniscus demersus) and Magellanic (Spheniscus magellanicus) penguins. The donkey penguin is the first species to receive scientific description, derived from him Latin name family and order - it is used by the Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus in his work “Systema Naturae” in 1758. Almost all other species were discovered only at the end of the 18th century and in the 19th century, when the territories of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans were explored.
Penguins at the zoo
Penguins are very curious birds and are almost fearless on land. Unlike domesticated animals, which have ceased to be afraid of humans only due to frequent contact with them, most penguins are not naturally afraid of people. According to many who visited Antarctica, the birds mistook them for penguins, albeit a little strange, although there is no way to give scientific confirmation as to whether this is actually so.
Penguins in zoos[ | ]
In Central Europe and Russia, penguins can only be found in zoos, some of which organize so-called “penguin marches” - birds are released from their enclosures and, under the supervision of a keeper, they take a short walk around the enclosure. Penguin marches are organized by zoos in Munster, Munich, Edinburgh and others.
Penguins kept in captivity often suffer from fungal infections of the respiratory tract, so to protect against disease, it is recommended to keep birds behind glass walls, especially in warm weather.
Penguins in art, sports and technology[ | ]
- Cartoon "Chilli Willy" 1953.
- Anatole France, satirical novel “Penguin Island” (“L’Île des Pingouins”,).
- Ivan Bunin, story "Penguins" (1929).
- In 1986-87, a Soviet-Japanese three-part series was filmed
Penguins (lat. Spheniscidae)- a family of flightless seabirds, the only one in the order of penguins (Sphenisciformes). There are 18 species in the family.
There are two options for where the name “penguin” comes from: from the Welsh pen (head) and gwyn (white) denoting the extinct great auk (Pinguinus impennis) from the auk family. And sailors named penguins the same way because of their similarity. From the Latin word “pinguis” - “fat” this is confirmed by the fact that in many European languages the word “penguin” is associated with the word “fat”.
general characteristics
The largest of the modern representatives is the emperor penguin (height - 110-120 cm, weight up to 46 kg), the smallest are representatives of the species Eudyptula minor - the little penguin (height 30-40 cm, weight 1-2.5 kg).
Body structure
Penguins are distinguished from all other birds by a very special body structure. Penguins have a streamlined body shape, which is ideal for moving in water. The forelimbs of penguins are nothing more than flippers. The musculature and structure of the bones allows them to work underwater with their wings almost like propellers. Unlike other flightless birds, penguins have a sternum with a clearly defined keel. Swimming underwater differs from flying in the air in that the same energy is expended in raising the wing as in lowering it, since water resistance is greater than air resistance, therefore the shoulder blades of penguins have a larger surface area on which the muscles are attached, compared to other birds. responsible for lifting the wing. The humerus and forearm bones are connected at the elbow straight and motionless, which increases the stability of the wing. The pectoral muscles are unusually developed and sometimes account for up to 30% of body weight, which is several times greater than the muscles of the most powerful flying birds. The femurs are very short knee-joint motionless, and the legs are noticeably shifted back, which causes an unusually straight gait. Large feet with a swimming membrane are relatively short - when on land, animals often rest, standing on their heels, while the rigid tail feathers serve as additional support for them. The tail of penguins is greatly shortened, since the steering function, which it usually has in other waterfowl, is performed primarily by the legs in penguins. The second obvious difference between penguins and other birds is bone density. All birds have tubular bones, which makes their skeleton lighter and allows them to fly or run fast. But in penguins they are similar to the bones of mammals (dolphins and seals) and do not contain internal cavities.
Thermoregulation
Within their habitat, penguins are exposed to extreme climatic conditions and have different anatomical features that allow them to adapt to these conditions. Thermal insulation is primarily served by a thick - from 2 to 3 cm - layer of fat, above which there are three layers of waterproof, short, tightly adjacent feathers and evenly distributed throughout the body. Penguins do not have apteria - areas of skin devoid of feathers, unlike almost all other birds; exceptions are some tropical species, in which apteria are present on the front part of the head.
The air in the layers of feathers also effectively protects against heat loss when in water. Penguins also have a well-developed “heat transfer system” in their fins and legs: the arterial blood entering them transfers heat to the colder venous blood flowing back to the body, thus keeping heat loss to a minimum. This process is called the "reverse flow principle". On the other hand, penguin species living in tropical waters have to cope with overheating. Their fins, in relation to their body size, are large area, thus the surface from which heat transfer occurs is increased. In addition, some species also lack facial plumage, which accelerates the process of heat transfer in the shade.
Plumage
The numerous small, undifferentiated, rather hair-like feathers that make up the plumage, in almost all species of penguins, are grayish-blue on the back, turning into black, and white on the belly. This coloring is camouflage for many marine animals (for example, dolphins). Males and females are very similar, although males are slightly larger. Most crested penguins (Eudyptes) have a very noticeable orange-yellow head decoration. The plumage of the cubs is often gray or brown, but in some species the sides and belly are white. After hatching eggs and raising chicks, penguins begin molting - changing their plumage. During molting, penguins shed a large number of feathers at once and during this time they are unable to swim in the water and remain without food until new feathers grow. New feathers grow under the old ones and seem to push them out. During this period, which lasts from two to six weeks in different species, birds use fat reserves twice as fast. Subantarctic penguins (Pygoscelis papua) and Galapagos penguins (Spheniscus mendiculus) do not have a clear molting period; in these species it can begin at any time between hatching chicks. In birds that do not hatch chicks, molting almost always begins earlier than in others.
Vision and hearing
Penguins' eyes are perfectly adapted to underwater swimming conditions; The cornea of their eyes is very flat, as a result of which birds are slightly myopic on land. Another means of adaptation is the contractility and extensibility of the pupil, which is especially pronounced in Emperor penguins that dive to great depths. Thanks to this feature, penguins' eyes very quickly adapt to changing light conditions in water at a depth of up to 100 m.
Analysis of the pigment composition allows us to conclude that penguins see in the blue part of the spectrum better than in the red, and probably even perceive ultraviolet rays. Since light from the red part of the spectrum is scattered already in upper layers water, this visual feature is likely the result of evolutionary adaptation. Penguin ears, like those of most birds, do not have a clear external structure. When diving, they are tightly closed with special feathers, so that water does not penetrate inside the ear. In Emperor penguins, the edge of the outer ear is also enlarged so that it can be closed, thereby protecting the middle and inner ear from pressure damage that can be caused by diving to great depths. Underwater, penguins make almost no sounds, but on land they communicate through calls that resemble the sounds of a trumpet and rattle. It has not yet been established whether they use hearing to track prey and detect their natural enemies.
Nutrition
Penguins feed on fish - Antarctic silverfish (Pleuragramma antarcticum), anchovies (Engraulidae) or sardines (in Clupeidae), as well as crabs such as krill, or small cephalopods, which they hunt by swallowing directly under water. If different types share the same habitat, their diet, as a rule, differs.
Movement
The average speed that penguins develop in water is from five to ten kilometers per hour, but higher rates are possible over short distances.
The fastest way to travel is “dolphin swimming”; in this case, the animal jumps out of the water for a short time, like a dolphin. The reasons for this behavior are not clear: it probably helps to reduce current resistance, or is intended to confuse natural enemies.
In diving, some penguins break records: smaller species such as the subantarctic penguin (Pygoscelis papua) can stay underwater for one or (rarely) more than two minutes and dive to depths of 20 meters, but Emperor penguins can stay underwater for 18 minutes and dive to more than 530 meters. Although it is the superpowers of Emperor penguins that remain poorly understood to this day, it is known, however, that when diving, the animal’s pulse is reduced to one-fifth of its resting heart rate; Thus, oxygen consumption is reduced, which allows you to increase the duration of stay under water with the same volume of air in the lungs. The mechanism for regulating body pressure and temperature when diving to great depths remains unknown.
When leaving the water, penguins can jump over the height of the coastline up to 1.80 m. Due to their relatively short legs on land, penguins move by waddling from side to side - this method of movement, as biomechanical studies have proven, saves a lot of energy. On ice, penguins can also move quickly - they slide down mountains while lying on their stomachs. Some species travel many kilometers between the sea and the place where their colony has settled.
Habitat
Penguins live in the open seas of the Southern Hemisphere: in the coastal waters of Antarctica, New Zealand, southern Australia, South Africa, along the entire western coast of South America from Falkland Islands to Peru, as well as on the Galapagos Islands near the Equator. Penguins prefer cool weather, so in tropical latitudes they appear only with cold currents - the Humboldt Current on the west coast of South America or the Benguela Current, which arises at the Cape of Good Hope and washes the west coast of South Africa.
Most species live between 45° and 60° south latitude; the largest concentration of individuals is in Antarctica and on the adjacent islands.
The northernmost habitat of penguins is the Galapagos Islands, located near the equator.
Reproduction
Penguins most often nest in large colonies, often numbering tens of thousands of pairs or more. Both parents alternately take part in incubating the eggs and feeding the chicks. The chicks feed on semi-digested fish and crustaceans regurgitated by their parents. The cubs find refuge from the cold in the lower folds of the parent's abdomen.
In cold Antarctic regions, one egg is hatched; in temperate and warm regions, there may be several eggs.
Classification
The Penguin family (lat. Spheniscidae) contains 6 genera, 18 species:
Genus Aptenodytes (Imperial)
Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri)
Breeds along the coast of Antarctica on ice, south of 78° south latitude.
Its body length is 110-120 cm. Weight is 20-45 kg.
The first pairs begin to be created in April, after 25 days a white egg is laid, the only one during the breeding season. The female holds the egg on her paws for some time, covering it with a special fold of skin on the underside of her abdomen. After a few hours it is transmitted to the male. After this, the females, one after another, go to sea. This goes on for about two months, and when the time for the chicks to hatch approaches, at the end of July the females, well-fed and fat, begin to arrive from the sea. Each female finds her male by voice. The male, hungry for 4 months, hastily gives the egg to his girlfriend and hurries to the sea.
Feeds on small fish, small cephalopods and planktonic crustaceans, mainly euphausiid crustaceans
King penguin (Aptenodytes patagonica)
Lives further north, in warmer places. Breeding colonies are located on the islands of South Georgia, Kerguelen, Marion, Crozet and Macquarie.
Body length is 91-96 cm. Colonies are located on hard rocky soil. Reproduction occurs in summer: eggs are laid mainly in December - January. Each female lays only 1 large egg. Both parents incubate alternately. Incubation duration 54 days
Genus Eudyptes (Crested)
Rockhopper penguin or rock climber penguin, rock penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome)
There are 3 subspecies:
Eudyptes chrysocome chrysocome
Eudyptes chrysocome filholi
Eudyptes chrysocome moseleyi
It lives on the rocky islands of the subantarctic region, but is sometimes found further north, on the southern tip of Africa and South America, as well as on the southern coast of New Zealand.
Reaches 45-58 cm in height, weight 2-3 kg.
It nests in large colonies on the barren and very harsh islands of Tristanda Cunha and Heard Island. In a noisy and crowded colony, the small first egg is usually lost in quarrels with neighbors. The chicks go to the nursery, but return to the nest when their parents call them to feed them. The chicks grow quickly and at the age of 10 weeks are ready to go to sea.
Victoria penguin or crested thick-billed penguin (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus)
It nests only on the rocky, creviced coast of South Island in New Zealand, as well as on two small offshore islands - Stuart and Solander.
Reaches 60 cm in length, weighing about 3 kg.
Golden-crested snar penguin or crested snar penguin (Eudyptes robustus)
The Snares Islands, a chain stretching south of New Zealand, are the only habitat for these penguins.
Reaches 63 cm in height, weighing about 3 kg.
Lives in favorable conditions temperate climate. The waters off the Snares Islands are warm enough that penguins rarely swim south beyond the sub-Antarctic region
Schlegel's penguin or Macquarie penguin (Eudyptes schlegeli)
Lives on the barren, deserted Macquarie Island, located in Pacific Ocean in close proximity to the Antarctic belt.
Size, appearance and his habits are similar to the golden-haired pengiguin.
Reaches 65-75 cm in length, weighing 5.5 kg
Great crested penguin (Eudyptes sclateri)
Breeds only on four small islands south of New Zealand. Large colonies are located on the Antipodes Islands and Bounty Island, small colonies are located on Auckland and Campbell Islands.
Reaches 65 cm in height, weighing about 2.5-3.5 kg.
Golden-haired penguin or Macaroni penguin (Eudyptes chrysolophus)
Distributed throughout the southern Atlantic and Indian oceans. They breed on South Georgia, South Shetland, South Orkney and some other subantarctic islands.
Body length 65-76 cm.
Their colonies are very numerous - up to 600 thousand nesting individuals. They nest on the ground, making very primitive nests. 2 eggs are laid. Hatching duration is 35 days, with changes of parents characteristic of penguins
Genus Eudyptula (Small)
Little penguin, elf penguin, little blue penguin, little blue penguin (Eudyptula minor)
It stays off the southern coast of Australia, along the coasts of Tasmania, New Zealand and Chatham Island.
It has a body length of only 40 cm. Usually lays 1-2, sometimes 3 eggs.
White-winged penguin, northern little penguin, little northern penguin (Eudyptula albosignata)
Body length is about 30 cm and weight is 1.5 kg. Breeds only on Motunau Island, near Canterbury ( New Zealand), is endangered.
Genus Megadyptes (Magnificent)
Magnificent penguin, yellow-eyed penguin, Antipodean penguin, Hoiho penguin (Megadyptes antipodes)
Breeds along the southern coast of the New Zealand islands and on Stewart, Auckland and Campbell Islands in September - November.
The body length reaches 83 cm.
These birds do not form colonies and usually nest in separate pairs. Young penguins (at the age of 3 years) lay 1 egg, older penguins almost always lay 2 eggs. The incubation period of the magnificent penguin is 4 weeks. Sexual maturity of birds apparently occurs in the 4-5th year of life.
Genus Pygoscelis (Antarctic)
Adelie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae)
Breeds along the shores of the Antarctic continent and on islands close to the mainland: South Shetland, South Orkney and South Sandwich. Outside the nesting season, it wanders widely, moving 600-700 km from its native places.
It's pretty large bird, up to 80 cm high. Nesting colonies are located on hard, snow-free ground. In individual colonies there are several tens of thousands of birds. There are usually 2 eggs in a clutch, which are laid with an interval of 2-4 days. The duration of their incubation is 33-38 days.
Chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica)
It lives mainly on the barren islands of the subantarctic region.
It reaches a height of 71-76 cm and weighs 4 kg.
These penguins are quite aggressive. There are known cases of these birds attacking people approaching the colony. Unlike other species, they feed both their chicks.
Subantarctic penguin, Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua)
These birds nest in Antarctica and on islands in the sub-Antarctic region, including the Falkland Islands and Crozet Islands. Nests are made among tufts of turfy grass.
Lay 2 eggs. The chicks have to fight for their parents to feed them. The parent runs away, and the children try to catch up with him. The larger and stronger older chick usually wins the race; the second chick is fed only if there is a lot of food. Otherwise he dies. With a height of 75-90 cm and a weight of about 6 kg, this penguin is the largest representative of the genus of long-tailed penguins.
Genus Spheniscus (spectacled)
Donkey penguin, African penguin (Spheniscus demersus)
Distributed off the southern and southwestern coasts of Africa.
Body length 61-86 cm.
Reproduction occurs throughout the year, mainly in May-June.
Galapagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus)
This is the only penguin that breeds in the tropics. The female lays 2 eggs in rock crevices in the colder season (May-June).
This is the smallest representative of the spectacled penguin genus, reaching a height of 53 cm and weighing 2-2.5 kg.
Despite the fact that Galapagos penguins live on islands where temperatures often rise to 38°C, they find food in the cold waters of the Cromwell Current.
Humboldt penguin, Peruvian penguin (Spheniscus humboldti)
Inhabits islands off the western coast of South America, the coasts of Peru and Chile.
Reaches a height of 55-56 cm, with a weight of 5 kg.
Endangered; there are less than 10 thousand birds
Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus)
It lives on the rocky, windswept southern coast of South America and the Falkland Islands.
Reaches a height of 70 cm and weighs about 4 kg.
On the shore during the breeding season, these birds are very timid and, when they see a person, they hide in their deep nests, but in the water they are not at all afraid of people and can be quite aggressive. The population of these birds is quite large (1-2 million) and seems quite stable
Probably the most amazing birds There are penguins on our planet. Interesting Facts We will introduce you to these cute creatures in this article. This is the only bird that swims beautifully, but cannot fly. In addition, the penguin can walk upright. This is a flightless bird belonging to the order Penguinidae.
Habitat
Vast areas, mainly in the cold regions of the Southern Hemisphere, are where penguins live. The largest populations are recorded in Antarctica. In addition, they feel quite comfortable in South Africa and southern Australia. Almost the entire coastline of South America is the territory where penguins live.
Name
The origin of the name of these birds has three versions. The first explains it by a combination of the words pen - “head” and gwyn - “white”. It once referred to the great auk (now extinct). Since these birds are similar in appearance, the name was transferred to the penguin.
According to the second version, the penguin got its name from English word pinwing, which translates as “hairpin wing”. According to the third version, the name of the bird comes from the Latin pinguis, which means “fat.”
Types of penguins
Do you know how many species of penguins live on our planet? By modern classification, these birds are grouped into six genera and nineteen species. We will introduce you to some of them in this article.
Emperor penguin
The largest and heaviest bird: the weight of a male can reach 40 kg, and the body length is about 130 cm. The plumage on the back is black, the belly is white, and on the neck you can see characteristic spots of bright yellow or orange color. Emperor penguins are native to Antarctica.
King Penguin
Outwardly, it is very similar to the imperial one, but is somewhat inferior in size: its body length is about 100 cm, and its weight does not exceed 18 kg. In addition, this species has a different color - the back is covered with dark gray, sometimes almost black feathers, the belly is white, and there are bright orange spots on the sides of the head and on the chest. These birds live in the coastal waters of the Gulf of Lusitania, on the islands Tierra del Fuego, Southern and Sandwich, Kerguelen and Crozet, Macquarie and South Georgia, Prince Edward and Heard.
Adelie Penguin
Medium sized bird. Its length does not exceed 75 cm, and its weight is 6 kg. Adele's back is black, her belly is white. A distinctive feature of this species is the white ring around the eyes. These birds live in Antarctica, as well as on the adjacent islands: Orkney and South Shetland.
Northern crested penguin
A species that is currently endangered. This is a small bird, about 55 cm long and weighing 3 kg. The back and wings are gray-black. The abdomen is white. Yellow eyebrows extend into tufts of bright yellow feathers located to the side of the eyes. On the penguin's head there is a black crest, which gives the species its name.
The main part of the population inhabits the islands of Inaccessible and Gough, Tristan da Cunha, which are located in the Atlantic Ocean.
Golden haired penguin
The body length of this penguin varies within 76 cm, weight - just over 5 kg. The color is typical of all penguins, but with one peculiarity: above the eyes there are unusual tufts of golden feathers. Golden-haired penguins have settled on the southern shores of the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic, and are slightly less common in the north of Antarctica, as well as on the islands of the Sub-Antarctic.
External features
On land, this unusual bird, which cannot fly, looks somewhat awkward due to the structural features of its limbs and body. Penguins have a streamlined body shape with well-developed muscles of the pectoral keel - often it makes up a quarter of the total mass of the bird.
The penguin's body is plump, slightly laterally compressed, covered with feathers. The head is not too large, located on a flexible and mobile, but short neck. The beak of these birds is strong and sharp.
Interesting facts about penguins are related to their structure. In the course of evolution and lifestyle, the penguin's wings have changed and turned into flippers: under water, they rotate in the shoulder joint like a screw. The legs are thick and short, with four toes that are connected by swimming membranes.
Unlike most birds, the penguin's legs are noticeably shifted back, which forces the bird to hold its body strictly vertical when on land. A short tail, which consists of twenty hard feathers, helps the penguin maintain balance: the bird leans on it if necessary.
Another interesting fact about penguins is that their skeleton is not made up of hollow tubular bones, which is usually typical for birds. Their bones are more similar in structure to those of marine mammals. For thermal insulation, penguins have a substantial reserve of fat, its layer reaches three centimeters.
The plumage of penguins is thick and dense: short, small feathers cover the bird's body like tiles, protecting it from getting wet in cold water.
Lifestyle
Penguins are underwater in search of food for quite a long time, diving three meters deep and covering distances of about thirty kilometers. It's amazing how fast penguins swim - it can reach 10 km per hour. Representatives of some species can dive to depths of up to 130 meters. When penguins do not enter the mating season and do not care for their offspring, they move away from the coast to quite long distances (up to 1000 km).
To speed up movement on land, the penguin lies on its belly and quickly slides across the snow or ice, pushing off with its limbs. This method of movement allows birds to reach speeds of up to 6 km/h. Under natural conditions, a penguin lives about twenty-five years. In captivity, with proper care, this figure increases to thirty.
What do penguins eat?
During one hunt, a penguin makes from 190 to 900 dives. The exact number depends on climatic conditions, the type of penguin, and food requirements. I wonder what oral apparatus The bird's body is designed on the principle of a pump: it sucks in small prey through its beak. During feeding, on average, birds swim about thirty kilometers and spend almost eighty minutes a day at a depth of more than three meters.
The basis of the penguins' diet is fish. But what do penguins eat (besides fish)? The bird happily eats squid, small octopuses and small shellfish. The cubs feed on semi-digested food, which their parents regurgitate from the stomach.
How do penguins sleep?
The answer to this question is of interest to many of our readers. Penguins sleep standing up, maintaining their body temperature during sleep. Interesting facts about penguins are also associated with this condition of birds. The time they spend sleeping directly depends on the air temperature - the lower the temperature, the shorter the sleep. Birds sleep longer during molting: during this period they eat little, and additional sleep allows them to reduce energy expenditure. In addition, penguins sleep while hatching eggs.
It turns out that not all penguins are cute and harmless creatures. For example, rock penguins are endowed with a rather aggressive disposition. They can attack any object they don't like.
Penguins don't need it fresh water- they are drinking sea water, because they have special glands that filter out salt.
During the mating season, expressing his tender feelings, the male spectacled penguin strokes his chosen one on the head with his wing.
Penguins' feet don't get cold because they have a minimal number of nerve endings.
general characteristics
The largest of the modern representatives is the emperor penguin (height - 110-120 cm, weight up to 46 kg), the smallest are representatives of the species Eudyptula minor- small penguin (height 30-40 cm, weight 1-2.5 kg). Such significant differences are explained by Bergmann's rule, of which penguins are a common example. Bergmann's rule states that animals living in cold regions have big sizes body, since this contributes to a more rational ratio of the volume and surface of the animal’s body and thereby reduces heat loss.
Emperor penguins in Antarctica
Body structure
Penguins are distinguished from all other birds by a very special body structure. Penguins have a streamlined body shape, which is ideal for moving in water. The forelimbs of penguins are nothing more than flippers. The musculature and structure of the bones allows them to work underwater with their wings almost like propellers. Unlike other flightless birds, penguins have a sternum with a clearly defined keel, to which powerful muscles are attached. Swimming underwater differs from flying in the air in that the same energy is expended in raising the wing as in lowering it, since water resistance is greater than air resistance, therefore the shoulder blades of penguins have a larger surface area on which the muscles are attached, compared to other birds. responsible for lifting the wing. The humerus and forearm bones are connected at the elbow straight and motionless, which increases the stability of the wing. The pectoral muscles are unusually developed and sometimes account for up to 30% of body weight, which is several times greater than the muscles of the most powerful flying birds. The femurs are very short, the knee joint is immobile, and the legs are noticeably set back, causing an unusually straight gait. Large feet with a swimming membrane are relatively short - when on land, animals often rest, standing on their heels, while the rigid tail feathers serve as additional support for them. The tail of penguins is greatly shortened, since the steering function, which it usually has in other waterfowl, is performed primarily by the legs in penguins. The second obvious difference between penguins and other birds is bone density. All birds have tubular bones, which makes their skeleton lighter and allows them to fly or run fast. But in penguins they are similar to the bones of mammals (dolphins and seals) and do not contain internal cavities.
Thermoregulation
Within their habitat, penguins are exposed to extreme climatic conditions and have different anatomical features that allow them to adapt to these conditions. Thermal insulation is primarily served by a thick - from 2 to 3 cm - layer of fat, above which there are three layers of waterproof, short, tightly adjacent feathers and evenly distributed throughout the body. Penguins do not have apteria - areas of skin devoid of feathers, unlike almost all other birds; The exception is some tropical species, which have apteria on the front part of the head. The air in the layers of feathers also effectively protects against heat loss when in water. Penguins also have a well-developed “heat transfer system” in their fins and legs: the arterial blood entering them transfers heat to the colder venous blood flowing back to the body, thus keeping heat loss to a minimum. This process is called the "reverse flow principle". On the other hand, penguin species living in tropical waters have to cope with overheating. Their fins have a larger area in relation to their body size, so the surface from which heat transfer occurs is increased. In addition, some species also lack facial plumage, which accelerates the process of heat transfer in the shade.
Plumage
The numerous small, undifferentiated, rather hair-like feathers that make up the plumage, in almost all species of penguins, are grayish-blue on the back, turning into black, and white on the belly. This coloring is camouflage for many marine animals (for example, dolphins). Males and females are very similar, although males are slightly larger. Most crested penguins (Eudyptes) have a very noticeable orange-yellow head decoration. The plumage of the cubs is often gray or brown, but in some species the sides and belly are white. After hatching eggs and raising chicks, penguins begin molting - changing their plumage. During molting, penguins shed a large number of feathers at once and during this time they are unable to swim in the water and remain without food until new feathers grow. New feathers grow under the old ones and seem to push them out. During this period, which lasts from two to six weeks in different species, birds use fat reserves twice as fast. Subantarctic penguins (Pygoscelis papua) and Galapagos penguins (Spheniscus mendiculus) do not have a clear molting period; in these species it can begin at any time between hatching chicks. In birds that do not hatch chicks, molting almost always begins earlier than in others.
Vision and hearing
Penguins' eyes are perfectly adapted to underwater swimming conditions; The cornea of their eyes is very flat, as a result of which birds are slightly myopic on land. Another means of adaptation is the contractility and extensibility of the pupil, which is especially pronounced in Emperor penguins that dive to great depths. Thanks to this feature, penguins' eyes very quickly adapt to changing light conditions in water at a depth of up to 100 m. Analysis of the pigment composition allows us to conclude that penguins see in the blue part of the spectrum better than in the red, and probably even perceive ultraviolet rays. Since light from the red part of the spectrum is scattered already in the upper layers of water, this feature of vision is likely the result of evolutionary adaptation. Penguin ears, like those of most birds, do not have a clear external structure. When diving, they are tightly closed with special feathers, so that water does not penetrate inside the ear. In Emperor penguins, the edge of the outer ear is also enlarged so that it can be closed, thereby protecting the middle and inner ear from pressure damage that can be caused by diving to great depths. Underwater, penguins make almost no sounds, but on land they communicate through calls that resemble the sounds of a trumpet and rattle. It has not yet been established whether they use hearing to track prey and detect their natural enemies.
Nutrition
Penguins feed on fish - Antarctic silverfish (Pleuragramma antarcticum), anchovies (Engraulidae) or sardines (in Clupeidae), as well as crabs such as krill, or small cephalopods, which they hunt by swallowing directly under water. When different species share the same habitat, their diets tend to differ: Adélie penguins and chinstrap penguins prefer krill of different sizes.
Movement
The average speed that penguins develop in water is from five to ten kilometers per hour, but higher rates are possible over short distances. The fastest way to travel is “dolphin swimming”; in this case, the animal jumps out of the water for a short time, like a dolphin. The reasons for this behavior are not clear: it probably helps to reduce current resistance, or is intended to confuse natural enemies.
In diving, some penguins break records: smaller species such as the subantarctic penguin (Pygoscelis papua) can stay underwater for one or (rarely) more than two minutes and dive to depths of 20 meters, but Emperor penguins can stay underwater for 18 minutes and dive to more than 530 meters. Although it is the superpowers of Emperor penguins that remain poorly understood to this day, it is known, however, that when diving, the animal’s pulse is reduced to one-fifth of its resting heart rate; Thus, oxygen consumption is reduced, which allows you to increase the duration of stay under water with the same volume of air in the lungs. The mechanism for regulating body pressure and temperature when diving to great depths remains unknown.
When leaving the water, penguins can jump over the height of the coastline up to 1.80 m. Due to their relatively short legs on land, penguins move by waddling from side to side - this method of movement, as biomechanical studies have proven, saves a lot of energy. On ice, penguins can also move quickly - they slide down mountains while lying on their stomachs. Some species travel many kilometers between the sea and the place where their colony has settled.
Habitat
Penguins live in the open seas of the Southern Hemisphere: in the coastal waters of Antarctica, New Zealand, southern Australia, South Africa, along the entire west coast of South America from the Falkland Islands to Peru, as well as on the Galapagos Islands near the Equator. Penguins prefer cool weather, so in tropical latitudes they appear only with cold currents - the Humboldt Current on the west coast of South America or the Benguela Current, which arises at the Cape of Good Hope and washes the west coast of South Africa.
Most species live between 45° and 60° south latitude; the largest concentration of individuals is in Antarctica and on the adjacent islands.
The northernmost habitat of penguins is the Galapagos Islands, located near the equator.
Reproduction
Penguins in folklore
- There is a joke among Russian fans of Formula 1 driver Kimi Raikkonen that during his years of racing for the McLaren team, penguins (suddenly jumping onto the track or sitting in the car) were the reason technical breakdown and piloting errors.
- There is another joke: “ Pengu And we are swallows, only very fat ones».
Links
- Penguin.su A selection of articles and photographs about penguins, interesting facts
- Portal where penguins live Everything about penguins and even more. News, information, photos, postcards, games, etc.
