"Hi, penguins!"
"We hope you enjoyed our last post about our organization, Global Penguin Society." 
"As promised, here are fun penguin facts about some of the different species of penguins we help protect:"
Northern Rockhopper Penguin
- Northern Rockhopper penguins can live up to 25 years.
- Females make the nest scrape where the eggs are laid but the male brings grass, sticks, feathers and stones, which the female uses to make the nest cup.
- Once the chicks are grown both parents go to sea to find food for nearly a month before they return to molt (change all their feathers).
Southern Rockhopper Penguin
- During the incubation period, males swim up to 500 km from their nest to get food. When chicks hatch the trips to obtain food are much closer because the parents have to feed them very often
- Generally, males arrive at the nests in the colonies several days before females and re-occupy the same nest each year.
- The first laid egg is usually smaller and lighter than the second egg. However, most first eggs are lost during incubation or at hatching.
- They incubate their eggs for a period of 32-34 days.
Magellanic Penguin
- Some couples have been breeding together during 16 breeding seasons (years).
- A Magellanic penguin can swim up to 170 kilometers in one day, feeding and swimming at the same speeds day and night when returning to the colony to feed their chicks.
- They can dive to a depth of 95 meters.
- They can live more than 30 years approximately.
- Individuals have distinct calls, allowing mates to recognize each other vocally and chicks to recognize their parents.
- The body temperature is 38° C in a Magellanic penguin, while in human beings is somewhere between 36.5 and 37.5. Incubation temperature is around 34° C
African Penguin
- Most dives are <30 m deep, although some dives reach up to 85 m.
- Birds providing food to downy chicks generally forage within 40 km of colonies but may travel up to 120 km.
- Duration of molt (change of feathers), from the time birds, come ashore until they depart for sea again is ~21 days. Birds usually molt at landing beaches or near their breeding sites and do not enter the sea except to preen (comb their feathers with their bills) and drink.
Emperor Penguin
- Nobody knows yet how many years an Emperor penguin can live.
- The only penguin species that breeds during the Antarctic winter, walking 50–120 km over the ice to their breeding colonies, which may include thousands of individuals.
- There are no nests nor do pairs occupy individual territories.
- The egg is incubated by the male during 62 days on their feet, tucked into the brood pouch, while the female goes to the sea to feed.
- In late July/early August, the chicks hatch and the females return relieving the males from their long fast. Parents subsequently take turns foraging at sea and caring for their chick in the colony.
Little Blue Penguin
- This penguin species is probably as tiny as penguins have ever been. It is the smallest of existing Penguin species at around 1-1.2 Kg and 30 cm tall.,
- Unlike other species of penguins, this one is largely nocturnal, coming ashore only until after dark and leaving to go feeding into the ocean before dawn.
- If the eggs or chicks are lost, the pair may initiate a second nesting, and this may also happen after a successful breeding. In some cases, even third clutches have been reported.
"Thanks for giving us the opportunity to share some fun facts about the different species of penguins to celebrate World Penguin Day! If you have a question you’d like answered about penguins, leave it in a comment below!"
Thanks for the special blog post Guest Blogger. It is really awesome to learn more about Penguins from time to time as they are one of the most fascinating species to me. Anyways please leave your thoughts in the comments section below and more blog posts will be coming soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment