If you don’t know what an adaptation is, here is a quick description~ An animal changing/or doing something to fit the environment.
Antarctica. A place of snow, ice and most of all the coldness. -30 degrees every day. But one animal seems to manage. An animal, with striking patterns of black, white and yellow. An animal that weighs 100 pounds. An animal, called the Emperor Penguin.
The Emperor Penguin is very unique. It doesn’t look or sound like a normal, everyday Penguin. What they do have in common of every other species of penguins, they have a lot of fur to keep warm. They also have there peers to keep warm too!
The Emperor Penguin has a lot of structural features. These contain adaptations. They grow less fur as they grow up. When they are a baby, they have grey (sometimes black) fur. When they are an adult, they grow black, white and yellow fur. They also grow less fur as they grow up. The Emperor Penguin also do contain (even as an adult) a lot of layers of feathers. You can’t see the layers of feathers usually because, all of the layers are sometimes built into the skin, for the Penguin to keep warm.
The Emperor Penguins behave differently to what normal birds/flightless birds act like. Penguins huddle together for warmth. Sometimes there is even hundreds and thousands of penguins huddling together for heat. Penguins don’t create nests because, they usually lay eggs on the ground by the shore. Almost every Penguin does this, but some create nests. Male Penguins (Emperor Penguins) sleep for 20-24 hours a day! Now, that’s a lot of sleeping! When female Penguins lay their eggs, they usually pass it on to the male.
The Emperor Penguins do different things to most Penguins like, they can dive for a depth of 1,800 feet! That’s really deep especially for a Penguin. They do this to catch fish for their chicks. Penguins also eat krill and squid. Emperor Penguins can hold their breathe for up to 22 minutes, they do this to catch as many fish as possible again, for their chicks and maybe even themselves to eat. Speaking of food, males can not eat for over 100 days! I couldn’t even do that!
The Emperor Penguins are a really unique species of Penguin. They have really unique adaptations too!
Have you ever seen a Penguin in real life?
What species of Penguin is your favourite? Why?
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