Perfect Penguins
By: Mia Creer
Table of Contents
Birds of a Feather…………………………………………………..
Penguins…. A Matter of Life and Death………………….
Move over Michael Phelps…………………………………….
Best Friends Forever………………………………………………
How Big is the Biggest Penguin?……………………………
How Small is the Smallest Penguin?………………………
Glossary…………………………………………………………………
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Birds of a Feather
Penguins are like birds in many ways. They have feathers, lay eggs,
and raise their chicks on land. Some penguins have black, blue, or gray
feathers. Penguins have wings but do not fly.
Penguins are not like birds in many ways. Instead of
flying, they swim. Penguins have heavy bones to stay
underwater. They are also a little bit bigger than most birds.
Penguin Trivia
Did you know
there are 17 types
of penguins?
Penguins waddle because they
have short legs. They have large eyes to see
well. They also have big heads. Their body
has a layer of fat to help keep them warm.
Penguins produce oil from a gland near the
tail.
Three penguins together on the ice.
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Penguins…. A Matter of Life and Death
In about four days, most penguins lay two eggs. Both parents take
turns sitting on the egg for four weeks or more. The abdomen of the
parent becomes swollen and warm. The chick uses its egg tooth to
break through the egg. An emperor penguins can live
Penguin Trivia
for 20 years and little penguins can live for six years.
Did you know a
penguin can
identify there chick
from there noise?
Chick’s enemies are rats, dogs, pigs, gulls,
sheathbills, and Giant Petrels. Its worst enemy is
the Antarctic Seabird. A penguin’s enemies are
leopard seals, killer seals, fur seals, sea lions, and
sharks. A leopard seal swims along the edges of ice
packs or hides under ice floes waiting for a penguin
to dive into the water so they can catch it. Penguins
live far away from most other animals
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Four baby chicks on the ice.
because they are defenseless.
Move over Michael Phelps
Penguins have bodies made for swimming. They have a wedge
shape tail, webbed feet and paddle like flippers to help them
swim faster. The penguin hunches its head into its
Penguin Trivia
Did you know some
shoulders and presses its feet close to its body to help it
penguins can dive as
deep as 1,500 feet to
steer through the water.
find food?
A penguin diving into the water.
Penguins are fast
swimmers. Most
penguins can go five to six miles
per hour, but some can even go
as fast as 15 miles per hour.
Michael Phelps the world’s
fastest swimmer, can’t swim as
fast as a penguin. Being
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able to swim fast helps penguins catch their prey. It also helps them
swim away from enemies.
A penguin swimming the water.
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Best Friends Forever
Penguins are very social birds. They swim together and feed
together on krill and small fish. They play together and slide on their
bellies together.
Penguins need to be friendly because there are so many of them.
There are thousands of pairs of penguins. The penguin colonies on
Antarctica are huge, containing twenty million or more penguins. Penguin
Trivia
Penguins often sing to each other to learn to recognize
each other and to tell each other
apart.
Two penguins together on the ice.
Penguin Trivia
Did you know an
Emperor penguins
can mate for life?
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How Big is the Biggest Penguin?
Emperor penguins are the biggest penguin in the world. They stand
at four feet and weigh 100 pounds. They spend cold windy winters on
the open Antarctic ice. To stay warm they clump together in huge
huddled masses.
Penguin Trivia
King penguins are the second biggest penguins. They are
three feet tall and weigh 35 pounds. They live on the cold,
rocky coasts of the islands surrounding Antarctica. They have
golden, orange swatches on their neck and around their head. It
also has a white belly and a blue and black back.
Did you know king
penguins are really
fast runners?
Gentoo penguins are a medium sized species of penguins. They
grow to be 30 inches. They weigh 30 pounds. They have colorful orange
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bills. They live in the coasts of Antarctica. Females are smaller than
males.
Four emperor penguins together.
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How Small is the Smallest Penguin?
Ad’elie penguins were named after the wife of Dumont d’Urville,
one of the early explorers of the Antarctic. They weigh ten or
eleven pounds and are as small as 27 inches. They spend their
Penguin Trivia
Did you know a
time in the outer edges of the ice pack.
Blue penguin
weighs only two
pounds?
Macaroni penguins get their name from the yellow,
orange, and black crests
above their eyes. They weigh nine
pounds and stand at 27 inches. They
live in the south Geogia Crozet
Kerguelen and Heard Islands, 4,000
kilometers southwest of Australia.
Two blue penguins together.
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Glossary
abdomen- the part of the body of a vertebrate containing the digestive organs; the belly
explorers- a person who explores a unfamiliar area; an adventurer
feathers- epidermal growth that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds and
some non-avian theropod dinosaurs
huddles- crowd together; nestle closely
krill- are small crustaceans of the order Euphausidcea, and are found in the world’s oceans.
webbed- having the fingers or toes connected by a web or membrane
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