10 Fun Facts About Penguins!

[MustachePenguin]

Who is a penguin's favourite family member? Aunt Arctica! I'm kidding, but here's 10 facts about the most loveable tuxedo-wearing bird there is;

1. There are 17 species of penguin, each one is slightly different!

Can you guess which one I am?

2. All penguins are found exclusively in the southern hemisphere, most of us live at the South Pole on Antarctica.

Here's a map in case you didn't know

3. Emperor Penguins (like me) are the tallest species, ranging between 3'6" to 4'2" feet!

The smallest is the Little Blue Penguin, which are only 0'3" - 0'4" feet tall.

Aww, look at the little guy!

4. The fastest of all the penguins is the Gentoo, which can swim up to 22mph!

Don't want to ask him for a race

5. We ingest a lot of seawater while fishing, but a special gland behind our eyes—the supraorbital gland—filters out the saltwater from our blood stream.

We excrete it through our beaks, or by sneezing.

Mmm, seawater.

6. Most birds lose and replace feathers a few at a time.

Not us penguins though! We go through something called the catastrophic molt. That means we will spend two or three weeks landbound while we look a little funky.

Looking cool brah!

7. Only two species of penguins don't breed in mass colonies.

A colony is a big group of penguins, that can sometimes range into the thousands!

Can you spot me?

8. Most penguin species mate for life, not me though!

Because I'm an emperor penguin, and we have a new mate every year.

Oh my

9. Some species create nests for their eggs out of pebbles and loose feathers.

Not us emperor penguins though! We incubate a single egg each breeding season on the top of our feet, under a loose fold of skin that keeps the egg warm.

Hey, wasn't I a cute egg

10. The first published account of penguins comes from Antonio Pigafetta, who was aboard Ferdinand Magellan's first circumnavigation of the globe in 1520.

They were spotted near what was probably Punta Tombo in Argentina. (He called us "strange geese.")

I don't see the comparison.

So, did you learn anything interesting? What other facts do you know about penguins?

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!

[NorthwestRider]

Penguins are super cute

Love to see them in the wild someday

Also, not all wild penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere. There are wild Galápagos Penguin in the Northern Hemisphere

[MustachePenguin]

The Galápagos Islands are on the line. They don't count!

[Avicenna]

Thanks for this from all penguin lovers!

[xCherryKizz]

This is actually cute and made me smile thanks

[Deathraider]

These penguin are cute buddies.

[AD240pCharlie]

PENGUINS!