Functional styles of speech The word style comes from the Greek stylos -...
Penguins most often nest in large colonies, often numbering tens of thousands of pairs or more. Both parents alternately take part in incubating the eggs and feeding the chicks. The chicks feed on semi-digested fish and crustaceans regurgitated by their parents. The cubs find refuge from the cold in the lower folds of the parent's abdomen.
The age at which penguins begin mating varies by species and gender. Thus, in lesser, magnificent, subantarctic and jackass penguins, the first mating occurs at the age of two years; Female Adélie, chinstrap, king and emperor penguins generally begin mating a year later, while males of these species are ready to mate another year later. Golden-haired penguins are only ready to mate when they are five years old.
The above data are statistical averages: in practice, the older the penguins, the more time they spend in colonies until they reach the age at which they begin to mate. For example, king penguins at the age of one year most often do not visit the colony at all; in the second year of life they appear there for just a few days. In subsequent years, visits to the colony become more frequent, and the length of stay in it gradually increases. Male emperor penguins often begin to hatch eggs only in their eighth year of life.
The time of year when penguins hatch their eggs depends primarily on climatic conditions. Galapagos, little and donkey penguins living to the north can hatch chicks throughout the year, and in some cases little penguins even manage to lay two clutches a year; Almost all species living in regions from the subantarctic to the antarctic begin laying eggs primarily in spring or summer. A notable exception to this rule are emperor penguins—they lay eggs in the fall. Thus, the chicks grow just during the Antarctic winter at temperatures as low as -40 °C and ways of adapting to low temperatures play a decisive role in their survival. King penguin chicks also spend the winter in colonies further north. During this period, parents rarely give them food, so in their first winter the chicks lose significant weight. In cold Antarctic regions, one egg is hatched; in temperate and warm regions, there may be several eggs.
Penguins prefer to stay in a flock not only in water, but also on land. In particular, egg laying, incubation and chick rearing in large colonies occur simultaneously in many species. Such colonies can number up to 5 million animals.
During the brooding period, males of non-sedentary species often come to the colony earlier than females and try to occupy a small territory, the area of which rarely exceeds one square meter. Thus, their social behavior is focused on nest creation. The only exceptions are emperor penguins, who do not build nests and do not have pronounced social behavior other than relationships with a partner and their offspring.
Males try to attract the attention of females by emitting calls similar to the sound of a trumpet. If this is not the first attempt to find a partner, then often it turns out to be a female with whom the male mated last year. The “divorce rate” of penguins of different species is not the same: the percentage of magnificent penguins who chose another partner the next year is about 14, which is very low; Their loyalty to their partner is also emphasized by the fact that 12% of couples maintained a relationship for more than 7 years. The situation with Adélie penguins is different - more than 50% of animals of this species change partners the next year, therefore, there are no known cases when relationships lasted more than 6 years. It is known that the successful brood of the previous year plays a big role in choosing a partner.
There is a close relationship between the complexity of social behavior and mate selection mechanisms, on the one hand, and the size of the colony, on the other: In large colonies, the mating rituals of cramped Adélie, chinstrap, subantarctic and crested penguins attract attention both visually and acoustically; Magnificent penguins living in dense vegetation or little penguins building nests far from each other, on the contrary, behave much more restrained.
In Europe, funny birds in black tailcoats became known at the beginning of the sixteenth century thanks to sailors from Portugal. Interesting Facts stories about penguins immediately endeared them to Europeans.
The name "penguin" comes from the English word penguin. According to one of the existing versions, translated from Welsh pengwyn means white head. Which is very suitable for describing these most interesting creatures nature. Antarctic penguins are the only birds on the planet that cannot fly, but at the same time swim well and move on land.
Antarctic penguin species
This family includes about twenty species. People know many interesting facts about penguins. Representatives of each species have their own curious characteristics that distinguish them from each other.
Magellanic and magnificent penguins are one of the world's most endangered species.
Adélie is the most common species of the entire family. received the name of the area where they were first noticed - Adélie Land.
Galapagos are the northern representatives of the genus. They live very close to the equator in the Galapagos archipelago at high temperatures, not typical of penguins. These cuties, unfortunately, may soon disappear from the face of the Earth; they are threatened with extinction.
Papuan - this type ranks third in size after emperor and king penguins.
Stone - these representatives of the family are aggressive and loud, they are distinguished by the most evil disposition.
Imperials are the most famous species throughout the world. Except large sizes They stand out among their fellows for their extraordinary tolerance of severe frosts. These birds don't mind the cold. They are even found on the mainland of Antarctica.
It is very sad to note the fact that in our time most species are under threat of extinction.
Natural habitat of penguins
Penguins naturally live only in the southern hemisphere of the planet. Their habitat is Antarctica, Australia, Africa and New Zealand. Birds are found in the tropics, but this does not mean that in local water bodies the Galapagos Islands are the warmest habitat for flightless birds. The largest populations of penguins are observed on the coast of Antarctica, nearby islands and huge ice floes.
Description
Antarctic penguins, depending on the species category, differ significantly from each other in weight, height and appearance. Their weight can vary from 1 to 45-50 kg, and their height ranges from 30 cm to 1 meter, although some individuals are found much taller and more massive. It depends on the climate in which the birds live. In those places where the air temperature is lower, the most people live large species, the emperor penguin ranks first on this list. The smallest penguins live in New Zealand and Australia, this species is called "little penguins". Their weight is only about one kilogram.
The body of birds is streamlined, thanks to this they can swim freely and deftly under water. They have developed muscles, muscle mass makes up about 30% of the total body weight. The bones are dense without cavities; this distinguishes penguins from flying birds, whose bones are tubular and light.
Three layers of numerous waterproof “hairs” are the plumage of handsome men in “tailcoats”. The air between the feathers warms the body while swimming in cold water. During the molting period, the plumage completely changes. During the change of “clothes,” the birds cannot swim, so they are forced to remain hungry until they “change” into new feathers. It is worth noting that penguins do not freeze thanks to a three-centimeter layer of fat.
What do penguins eat?
While underwater, cute divers see very well, much better than on land. To the question of what penguins eat, the answer is simple - fish. Schooling species of these marine inhabitants form the basis of their diet. Sardine, horse mackerel, and anchovy are the favorite foods of birds. This diet is diluted with squid and krill.
Throughout the day, the penguin dives underwater 300 to 900 times to get food. During hatching of eggs and molting, when it is not possible to go fishing, birds can lose half of their total weight.
Wild Lifestyle
A group of penguins communicate with each other using exclamations, and each species has its own sounds. Spectacled penguins produce calls that resemble those of donkeys.
As mentioned earlier, these cute creatures cannot fly, although they have wings, but they swim and dive excellently, and in extremely cold conditions. Underwater they are able to move at a speed of 10 km/h, but this is only on average. On short distances The Gentoo penguin, which is distinguished by its speed, can reach speeds of up to 30-35 km/h.
Birds that are accustomed to it can stay under water for 1-1.5 minutes without a break, while diving to a depth of 15-20 meters. But again, among all species there are record divers. The emperor penguin easily dives to a depth of about 500 meters and spends up to 15-18 minutes there.
Birds jump out of the water, the height of their jump can be up to 2 meters, thanks to this they immediately find themselves on land. While on the shore, these excellent swimmers behave very clumsily. They walk slowly, waddling from side to side, partly in this way penguins save heat and energy. Where there is even the slightest ice slide, the birds fall on their bellies and slide down, as if on a sled.
Reproduction
During the breeding season, penguins gather in large colonies to raise their chicks. The mating season in various species takes place in different time. To hatch eggs, birds build nests from what they have at hand. It could be stones, grass, leaves. The exception is emperor and king penguins; they place their eggs in a special fold on their belly. There they stay until the chicks hatch.
The incubation period lasts from one to two months. If initially there were two eggs and two chicks hatched, then the parents give all their attention to their first-born, and the second baby, as a result of such an unfair attitude of mom and dad, may die of hunger, which is what happens in most cases.
Natural enemies
The lives of penguins are constantly in danger. In nature, these cute creatures have plenty of enemies, not counting the destructive human activities, which have the greatest impact on the decline in the Antarctic bird population.
The hardest thing is for little penguins, about 50% of which die in the first year of their lives. The main enemies of the chicks are, for example, the giant southern petrel. In addition to the danger of dying from claws, babies are constantly at risk of death from starvation.
Marine predators are considered the natural enemies of adult penguins. These include sharks, killer whales, seals, leopards and About 6-10% of birds die as a result of collisions with these animals.
To the above, we can also add that feral dogs abandoned by people are also very dangerous for settlements of clumsy creatures that are unable to escape from enemies on land. In the twentieth century, entire colonies of penguins were destroyed by wild dogs on the Galapagos Islands.
A lot of interesting things happen in the colonies of these flightless birds of different species. We will now present to your attention some interesting facts about penguins:
Real “kindergartens” are being created in penguin colonies. Chicks aged 4-6 weeks gather in one place, and several adult “educators” are left to watch the babies. Parents can therefore do anything free time devote themselves to searching for food for themselves and their chicks.
. Watching penguins, you can see that when they approach the shore, at first they just stand, looking at each other; no one dares to dive for a long time. After some time, there is one pioneer who boldly jumps into the water. Everyone else immediately rushes after him. This behavior is called the “penguin effect.” By the way, the same situations often arise among people.
To swim faster, penguins move by jumping out of the water, like dolphins.
. Birds can drink salty sea water because they have special glands that remove excess salt from the body.
. During warming, in order not to fall through the ice, penguins move by sliding on their stomachs, pushing off with their paws and wings.
Probably the most amazing birds on our planet are penguins. We will present you interesting facts about these cute creatures in this article. This is the only bird that swims beautifully, but cannot fly. In addition, the penguin can walk upright. This is a flightless bird belonging to the order Penguinidae.
Habitat
Vast areas, mainly in the cold regions of the Southern Hemisphere, are where penguins live. The largest populations are recorded in Antarctica. In addition, they feel quite comfortable in South Africa and southern Australia. Almost the entire coastline of South America is the territory where penguins live.
Name
The origin of the name of these birds has three versions. The first explains it by a combination of the words pen - “head” and gwyn - “white”. It once belonged to great auk(now extinct). Since these birds are similar in appearance, the name was transferred to the penguin.
According to the second version, the penguin got its name from the English word pinwing, which translates as “hairpin wing.” According to the third version, the name of the bird comes from the Latin pinguis, which means “fat.”
Types of penguins
Do you know how many species of penguins live on our planet? Modern classification these birds are grouped into six genera and nineteen species. We will introduce you to some of them in this article.
Emperor penguin
The largest and heaviest bird: the weight of a male can reach 40 kg, and the body length is about 130 cm. The plumage on the back is black, the belly is white, and on the neck you can see characteristic spots of bright yellow or orange. Emperor penguins are native to Antarctica.
King Penguin
Outwardly, it is very similar to the imperial one, but is somewhat inferior in size: its body length is about 100 cm, and its weight does not exceed 18 kg. In addition, this species has a different color - the back is covered with dark gray, sometimes almost black feathers, the belly is white, and there are bright orange spots on the sides of the head and on the chest. These birds live in the coastal waters of the Gulf of Lusitania, on the Tierra del Fuego, South and Sandwich islands, Kerguelen and Crozet, Macquarie and South Georgia, Prince Edward and Heard.
Adelie Penguin
Medium sized bird. Its length does not exceed 75 cm, and its weight is 6 kg. Adele's back is black, her belly is white. A distinctive feature of this species is the white ring around the eyes. These birds live in Antarctica, as well as on the adjacent islands: Orkney and South Shetland.
Northern crested penguin
A species that is currently endangered. This is a small bird, about 55 cm long and weighing 3 kg. The back and wings are gray-black. The abdomen is white. Yellow eyebrows extend into tufts of bright yellow feathers located to the side of the eyes. On the penguin's head there is a black crest, which gives the species its name.
The main part of the population inhabits the islands of Inaccessible and Gough, Tristan da Cunha, which are located in the Atlantic Ocean.
Golden haired penguin
The body length of this penguin varies within 76 cm, weight - just over 5 kg. The color is typical of all penguins, but with one peculiarity: above the eyes there are unusual tufts of golden feathers. Golden-haired penguins have settled on the southern shores of the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic, and are slightly less common in the north of Antarctica, as well as on the islands of the Sub-Antarctic.
External features
On land this unusual bird, which cannot fly, looks somewhat awkward due to the structural features of its limbs and body. Penguins have a streamlined body shape with well-developed muscles of the pectoral keel - often it makes up a quarter of the total mass of the bird.
The penguin's body is plump, slightly laterally compressed, covered with feathers. The head is not too large, located on a flexible and mobile, but short neck. The beak of these birds is strong and sharp.
Interesting facts about penguins are related to their structure. In the course of evolution and lifestyle, the penguin's wings have changed and turned into flippers: under water, they rotate in the shoulder joint like a screw. The legs are thick and short, with four toes that are connected by swimming membranes.
Unlike most birds, the penguin's legs are noticeably shifted back, which forces the bird to hold its body strictly vertical when on land. A short tail, which consists of twenty hard feathers, helps the penguin maintain balance: the bird leans on it if necessary.
Another interesting fact about penguins is that their skeleton is not made up of hollow tubular bones, which is usually typical for birds. Their bones are more similar in structure to those of marine mammals. For thermal insulation, penguins have a substantial reserve of fat, its layer reaches three centimeters.
The plumage of penguins is thick and dense: short, small feathers cover the bird's body like tiles, protecting it from getting wet in cold water.
Lifestyle
Penguins are underwater in search of food for quite a long time, diving three meters deep and covering distances of about thirty kilometers. It's amazing how fast penguins swim - it can reach 10 km per hour. Representatives of some species can dive to depths of up to 130 meters. When penguins do not enter the mating season and do not care for their offspring, they move away from the coast to quite long distances (up to 1000 km).
To speed up movement on land, the penguin lies on its belly and quickly slides across the snow or ice, pushing off with its limbs. This method of movement allows birds to reach speeds of up to 6 km/h. Under natural conditions, a penguin lives about twenty-five years. In captivity, with proper care, this figure increases to thirty.
What do penguins eat?
During one hunt, a penguin makes from 190 to 900 dives. The exact number depends on climatic conditions, the type of penguin, and food requirements. Interestingly, the bird’s mouthparts are designed like a pump: it sucks in small prey through its beak. During feeding, on average, birds swim about thirty kilometers and spend almost eighty minutes a day at a depth of more than three meters.
The basis of the penguins' diet is fish. But what do penguins eat (besides fish)? The bird happily eats squid, small octopuses and small shellfish. The cubs feed on semi-digested food, which their parents regurgitate from the stomach.
How do penguins sleep?
The answer to this question is of interest to many of our readers. Penguins sleep standing up, maintaining their body temperature during sleep. Interesting facts about penguins are also associated with this condition of birds. The time they spend sleeping directly depends on the air temperature - the lower the temperature, the shorter the sleep. Birds sleep longer during molting: during this period they eat little, and additional sleep allows them to reduce energy expenditure. In addition, penguins sleep while hatching eggs.
It turns out that not all penguins are cute and harmless creatures. For example, rock penguins are endowed with a rather aggressive disposition. They can attack any object they don't like.
Penguins do not need fresh water - they drink sea water because they have special glands that filter out salt.
During the mating season, expressing his tender feelings, the male spectacled penguin strokes his chosen one on the head with his wing.
Penguins' feet don't get cold because they minimal amount nerve endings.
Municipal budgetary educational institution
"Average comprehensive school No. 2" urban settlement Urengoy
Who hatches penguin eggs?
(research)
Completed by: Olga Ostapenko,
3b grade student
Head: Kolesnikova I.V.,
teacher primary classes
p.g.t. Urengoy, 2012
My research work is called “Who hatches penguin eggs?”
I want to know who penguins are, where they live, what types they are, how they reproduce, who hatches the eggs of penguins.
In the process of work, I put forward the following hypotheses:
1) Let's assume that penguins are black and white birds.
2) Let's say that penguins live in Antarctica.
3) I think that penguins reproduce using eggs.
4) Probably the male incubates the eggs of penguins.
To test my hypotheses I used following methods research: searching for information on the Internet, reading popular science books.
During the process I learned the following:
Penguins are flightless birds. They live at the South Pole. They nest on the islands and coasts of Antarctica. Oddly enough, among the penguins there are those who moved to live on the shores of Africa, South America and Australia. The Galapagos penguin lives at the equator. Penguins live from 7 to 20 years, some, perhaps longer.
The white shirt-front and black tailcoat make the penguins look like people. This coloring is protective; it helps penguins hide in the water. The body is covered with thick short plumage that does not get wet. Under the skin of these birds there is a thick layer of fat, so they do not freeze and can starve. Although penguins have wings, they cannot fly. The structural features allow these birds to survive in the coldest and harshest climate, in Antarctica. Penguins live in colonies ranging from several hundred thousand to several million birds. Birds move awkwardly on land, but they swim beautifully. Penguins spend most of their lives at sea. They can dive deep - 10 - 20 meters. Can be underwater for up to 10 minutes.
Penguins feed on fish, squid, and shrimp. Food is obtained from the sea. Their unbending wings serve as oars, and their tail and paws serve as rudder. In water they can move at speeds of up to 40 km/h (like a submarine). Sometimes, having accelerated, penguins jump out, rush like dolphins over the sea and dive again. A soldier jumps vertically onto ice floes from the water and lands on both paws. They don’t fall and slip awkwardly.
Currently, there are up to 18 species of penguins on Earth: emperor, king, yellow-eyed, Patagonian penguins, Adélie penguins, etc. The smallest penguins are 40 cm tall and weigh 2 kg; The largest ones are 1 m 20 cm tall and weigh 45 kg. Emperor penguins are the largest.
Like all birds, penguins reproduce using eggs.
Penguins hatch their chicks on land: in the grass, in bushes, in dunes, among stones, some in burrows.
Penguins line the edges of their nests with pebbles, shells, leaves, bones and even the corpses of rabbits.
In yellow-eyed penguins, the female sits in the nest for several days, warming the eggs. Then she is replaced by a male. When one of them returns home, he is greeted with joyful and loud greetings.
Among Adele penguins, males hatch chicks: they incubate the eggs for 33–38 days, only eating snow. And the females hunt at sea at this time.
King and emperor penguins do not have nests, but they are able to keep their eggs warm.
The male places the egg on his paws and warms it with his body. All this time he is unable to find food for himself and lives off accumulated fat. If a storm suddenly arises, all the male penguins gather in a circle to protect themselves from the wind. After the chick hatches from the egg, the father must continue to hold it on his paws, since the chick does not yet have enough fluff to protect it from freezing. When the chick grows up, it joins a large group of other babies. While the penguins are busy searching for food, several adult penguins guard the chicks.
In the process of work, I came to the following conclusions:
1) Penguins are flightless birds that live in Antarctica. Some species of penguins live on the shores of Africa, South America and Australia.
2) There are up to 18 species of penguins. Among them are emperor, king, yellow-eyed, Patagonian penguins, Adélie penguins, etc.
3) Penguins reproduce using eggs.
4) In penguins, both the male and the female incubate the eggs; in different species of penguins, it is different.
What do you actually know about these birds in tuxedos, other than the fact that they are incredibly cute and touching? Let's look at the world of penguins in facts.
1. Almost all penguins live in the southern hemisphere
17 species of penguins (some scientists say there are 20) live between Antarctica, Argentina, Australia, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa. The only exception is the Galapagos penguin, which lives near the equator in the Galapagos Islands and occasionally ends up in northern hemisphere waters.
2. Penguins have been around for a long time.
A fossil hunter once discovered the bones of an extinct penguin ancestor, and scientists say it is 61 million years old. This means it likely outlived the dinosaurs, which went extinct 65.5 million years ago. Judging by the remains, this prehistoric bird could fly and grew up to 10 m in height.
3. Penguins eat a lot
Penguins are carnivores and their diet consists of fish, krill, crabs, squid and other sea creatures. They can consume up to 1 kg of food daily during the summer months, but only a third of this amount in winter.
4. They sneeze
However, not from a cold. Since penguins eat a lot of seafood, a lot of salt water enters their bodies along with their food. To get rid of all this salt, their supraorbital glands filter it from the bloodstream, and then the penguins excrete the salt through their beaks or by sneezing.
5. The smallest penguin may be the cutest
Little blue penguins (called "lesser penguins") are really tiny. They grow up to 25-30 cm in height, and an adult penguin weighs only 1.5 kg.
6. Emperor penguins are the largest species
They are almost 1.2 meters tall and can weigh up to 40 kg.
7. Penguins are experienced swimmers and divers
No, these sweetest birds cannot fly. Instead, they use their wings to fly underwater (so to speak) at speeds of up to 40 km per hour.
8. They waddle
Penguins' bodies are shaped to glide easily underwater: a long body and short legs. Therefore, when they walk on land, they look very clumsy. They also move by hopping, sliding on their bellies, and using their legs and wings to control their speed.
9. They spend most of their time in the water
Penguins spend about 75% of their lives in the water. They come to land to mate, lay eggs and raise young.
10. And now about the little penguins...
They are called chicks or chicks. Penguin chicks form small groups, or nurseries, to watch out for approaching predators and keep each other warm while their parents forage for food.
11. Penguins are romantic
Some species of penguins mate for life (for example, the golden-haired penguin). These lovers demonstrate their feelings to each other in a kind of dance: they shake their heads and cackle loudly.
12. During the mating season, birds live in huge groups
Most penguin species mate and raise their chicks in large groups called colonies for safety and collective protection. These groups can number from a couple of hundred to hundreds of thousands of penguins!
13. Penguin dads hatch eggs
At least that's what male emperor penguins do. They do not sit on their eggs like hens, but place them on their feet and cover them with a ventral fold called the brood pouch. The males spend two months like this - without food and in harsh weather conditions - until the mothers return with food for the young.
14. Their plumage is excellent camouflage
When penguins swim, their black backs make them invisible to predators above, and their white bellies blend into the bright sunlight passing through the waves so they are invisible to predators below.
15. Feathers also keep you warm
Penguins do not have subcutaneous fat (blub) for thermal insulation like other marine animals, but penguins do have feathers for this purpose. In particular, emperor penguins have about 100 feathers per square meter. cm. The feathers on the bottom keep warm air close to the skin, and the feathers on top become cooler than the surrounding air to keep the body warm.
