Although penguins are the representative creatures of Antarctica, they never seem to be far away from our sight. They can be said to be a household name among humans. Their cute appearance and movements, flightless wings, and funny behaviors are all topics that people talk about.

Even so, you may not be familiar with penguins. The following knowledge may surprise you.

Penguins are called Penguins in English, but in fact the earliest people called Penguins were not penguins, but a bird living in the Arctic called the great auk. Unlike the desolate Antarctic, the Arctic Circle also has traces of human activities and was explored earlier. The navigators at that time came to the islands near the North Pole and discovered the great auks, so they named them Penguins.

Later, other navigators came to Antarctica and discovered a group of birds that were very similar to auks. They mistakenly thought they had discovered auks in Antarctica, so they also called them Penguins. In fact, the two birds are very distantly related, but due to habit, the name has been passed down. By the 19th century, the great auk became extinct, and the only penguins in the world we know today are penguins.

In order to build a house, dignity is not required

When building a nest, penguins will draw a ravine on the ground and then pile pebbles on it. These rocks can also protect penguin eggs once the snow melts and floods the surrounding areas.

For the "house", these penguins can be said to have given up their dignity. In a penguin colony, there are often some lazy and opportunistic penguins who do not look for stones themselves, but wait for other penguins to go out to look for stones and steal the stones they have built to build their own nests. Sometimes, they will be caught and the two sides will fight.

What’s more, penguins like Adélie penguins will sell themselves for stones. Some female penguins even exchange stones from other male penguins by (500 words omitted here) ...

Strong swimmers

Penguins cannot fly because they have adapted to life in the ocean. Generally speaking, a penguin spends half of its life in the water and the other half on land. Therefore, penguins have very powerful swimming abilities.

On average, a penguin can swim at a speed of 6-10 kilometers per hour, and an emperor penguin can swim at a speed of 12 kilometers per hour. The fastest swimmer currently found is the gentoo penguin, which can even reach a swimming speed of more than 30 kilometers per hour.

In addition to swimming, penguins also have the best diving abilities among birds. Current recorded data shows that penguins can dive in the ocean for 18 minutes and the depth limit is 265 meters. Emperor penguins can even dive for 30 minutes and 500 meters!

Penguins have no teeth

All birds have no teeth, and penguins are no exception. When they hunt, they mainly rely on their beaks. At the same time, they will use the barbs on their tongues and throat to swallow small fish or small crustaceans.

Fish and crustaceans are just "side dishes", and the penguins' main food is Antarctic krill. According to statistics, the number of krill eaten by Antarctic penguins can reach 33.17 million tons, which is half of the number of krill eaten by whales, which is amazing. During the mating season, penguins' food intake will also increase significantly, and they can even eat 6-7 kilograms of food per day - despite their small size, their food intake may be larger than that of humans.

The bones of penguins are very unique

Among all birds, penguins have the most unique bone structure. Unlike other birds, which have hollow bones, most of the penguin's bones are solid because it doesn't need to rely on reduced bone weight to aid flight. At the same time, their elbow joints and wrist bones are almost fused together. Unlike the bones in other parts of the body, the bones in penguin flippers are shorter and flatter. At the same time, each feather of a penguin is connected to a muscle, which allows the feathers to stick tightly around the body when they jump into the seawater, preventing seawater from penetrating.

The hardest bones in a penguin’s body are their leg bones. Therefore, after penguins die, the best-preserved bones are their leg bones. Oh, by the way, penguins do have leg bones. If you don’t believe me, look at the picture——

The color of penguin feathers is perfect camouflage

Why are penguins’ backs black and their bellies white? Woolen cloth? Biologists believe that this is probably to provide a perfect camouflage in the sea.

When penguins swim in the sea, the prey above can only see their dark backs, and this color is closer to the color of the deep sea, so it easily blends in; conversely, if their natural enemies If you are at the bottom, you can only see their snow-white bellies. This is very similar to the color of the sky that natural enemies see through the sea when they look up, making them equally difficult to spot.

Of course, this is not only to avoid natural enemies, but also to help them provide hiding opportunities when hunting, ensuring a higher success rate.

Fatness is beauty

Researchers found that during mating season, fatter penguins are more popular. When male penguins want to mate, they will swagger around and make a unique sound to attract the attention of female penguins.

It is also very interesting when female penguins choose their partners. They will caress each other's necks and pat each other with their webs to express their love. Researchers believe that the reason why female penguins prefer fatter males may be because they are better able to take care of their eggs and newborn chicks.

Similarly, penguin chicks can also hear the calls of their parents through the cocktail effect; and vice versa, among many penguins, each parent can clearly hear the calls of their own chicks sound and then take care of it.

Most penguins are monogamous

Depending on the species, the time it takes for penguins to hatch to maturity ranges from 3 to 8 years. When a penguin matures, it will enter the mating stage and look for its own mate. Moreover, once they choose a partner, they will stay together for life and abide by the principle of monogamy.

Of course, this only represents most penguins. Some penguins do not follow this rule, such as emperor penguins. They only remain monogamous for one season, and then they will find a new love and continue monogamy with the next partner...

Highly social animals

Penguins are a A very social animal, it is common for a penguin colony to contain hundreds or thousands of penguins, making them one of the most social birds. Whether swimming or eating, they stay in groups and coordinate with each other.

In the cold environment of Antarctica, they will also huddle together to keep each other warm. Especially baby birds or penguin eggs will be carefully protected in the center. Adult penguins will not suffer unfair treatment. On average, they will move every 30-60 seconds to ensure that every penguin can enjoy warmth. Through this process, each penguin can maintain a body temperature of at least 21°C.