21st century skills library 4 In the Swim chapter 1 You might have watched them dance or sing on the TV screen Maybe you’ve read about their funny tricks in a children’s book Unlike Hollywood penguins real penguins don’t tap dance use a toilet or sleep in a bed Ocean explorer Ferdinand Magellan discovered penguins off the coast of Argentina in 1520 Describing the strange black birds one passenger on the boat wrote that the birds could not fly and looked like strange geese with a crow’s beak Magellan and his crew took several penguins and other unknown animals back to
exploring our oceans 5 Penguins live on land and in the water Spain to learn more about them Penguins live in some of the coldest places on earth The 18 species or types of penguins can be found on island beaches volcanoes and every continent in the Southern Hemisphere Most penguins are social animals and live in large groups called rookeries or colonies
21st century skills library 6 look again Look at the penguin pictured here What do you notice about a penguin’s body shape that would make it a good swimmer Like other birds penguins lay eggs and have feathers They are warm-blooded animals which means their body temperature stays almost the same all of the time Unlike most birds penguins do not fly Instead they spend up to 75 percent of their time hunting diving and swimming in the ocean They can stay in the ocean for months at a time Penguins are called aquatic birds
exploring our oceans 7 Emperor penguins spend the winter on the open ice Ornithologists study birds and learn a lot about penguins from fossils Penguin fossils show that at least 40 species of prehistoric penguins are now extinct The largest extinct penguin was up to 5 feet 9 inches 175 cm tall and weighed between 200 and 300 pounds 91 and 136 kg Imagine a penguin as tall as an adult human The largest penguin alive today is the emperor penguin The average emperor penguin is just over 3 feet 5 inches 104 cm tall and weighs between 60 and 90 pounds 27 and 41 kg At only 16 inches 40 6 cm tall and less than 2 5 pounds 1 kg the fairy penguin is smaller than most newborn babies
