What are penguins like?

There are about 20 species of penguins in the world, all of which are distributed in the southern hemisphere, with the Antarctic continent as the center and the southern tip of Africa in the north, the continental coasts of South America and Oceania and some islands. There is no creature here, whether it is a skua or an Antarctic seal, which has a huge battle formation compared with penguins. For millions of years, the penguin family has jointly built the life color of the Antarctic region and deserves to be the master here.

Penguin, the real master of Antarctic continent

Text/North Cold Map/Mei Xin, Wang Zhaoyong

The first thing that people who set foot on Antarctic land notice is the swarms of penguins all over the mountains, which bring vitality and vitality to the cold and lonely ice and snow world in Antarctica.

Penguins are indigenous people of the Antarctic, and people call them the symbol of the Antarctic, and they deserve it. Penguins are abundant, dense and widely distributed here, and can be seen everywhere. Although there are not many species of Antarctic penguins, the number is considerable. According to long-term observation and estimation by ornithologists, there are nearly 65.438+0.2 billion penguins in Antarctica, accounting for 87% of the total number of penguins in the world, 90% of the total number of seabirds in Antarctica and 654.38+0/654.38+00 of the total number of seabirds in the world. The largest number is Adelie penguins, about 50 million, followed by crested penguins, about 3 million, and the smallest number is emperor penguins, about 570 thousand.

Penguins in hats

How did Antarctic penguins come from? They may also be outsiders.

Where is the hometown of Antarctic penguins? How did they come from? There is a saying that penguins in Antarctica originated from a flying animal during the disintegration of Gondwana.

emperor penguin

200 million years ago, Gondwana began to split and disintegrate, and the Antarctic continent separated and began to drift south. At this time, a group of flying animals found the drifting Antarctic continent in the sea, and finally they chose this land and began to grow and breed with plenty of food and clothing. For millions of years, you can fill your stomach by fishing in the sea because you don't have to fly around looking for food. Their wings gradually degenerated, and even their feathers became fine needle-like feathers. Because of abundant food, their slender bodies became short and fat. However, geological changes have never stopped. As the Antarctic continent continues to extend southward to the extreme, the climate becomes colder and colder, and the land is covered with thick ice and snow. Their degraded wings can no longer take them to the sky. A large number of creatures began to die and despair, and they could only change themselves and adapt to change. With the passage of time and the replacement of light and shadow, they waited here and gradually became indigenous people in the Antarctic region.

Pointed penguin

Penguins are loyal love masters until death do us part.

Penguins are loyal lovers. In order to reveal whether penguins are monogamous, polygamous or polygamous, 10 has been observed for many years, and 82% of penguins still keep their original pairing, and one of them has lived together for 165438 years.

Emperor penguin

Penguins are also experts in family relations. When it comes to incubating chicks, most male penguins can be described as imitating their fathers and model husbands. After laying eggs, the female penguin is duty-bound to undertake the task of hatching. Male emperor penguins can even hatch chicks for up to 90 days without eating or drinking, relying entirely on their own physical strength. In order to keep the temperature and resist storms, male penguins often hatch together in groups. After laying eggs, the emperor penguin mother needs to travel for three months without eating or drinking, and walk more than 70 miles back to the sea to eat. After 90 days, the chicks hatch, and the females return to their original places to find the males with songs. Although some penguin species can hatch alternately, in most cases, chicks are born by their fathers.

Penguins in hats

Penguins are masters of loving children. They are eager to love their children and always show their responsibilities as parents. Not long ago, photographer Daniel J Cox accidentally discovered a sad scene on the cold Antarctic tundra while shooting in an ice shed on the edge of Larsen continent, Antarctica. Groups of penguins bowed in silence for the unfortunate dead cubs. According to the investigation, the main culprit of chicken death is climate warming and early melting of glaciers.

Emperor penguin

Penguin groups know how to unite and cooperate together to drive away external threats.

In Antarctica, nothing threatens penguins more than skua, seals and blue whales. On the mainland, skua often disturbs penguins and preys on penguin eggs and chicks. In order to prevent the attack of skua, the penguins choose young and strong penguins to stand guard outside. Once the enemy is found, the penguins on guard will quickly flap their wings and make an "ah-ah" sound to alert the group. During the battle, several penguins in front besieged together, and a group of penguins in the back evacuated in an orderly manner. They will gradually evacuate according to the old, the weak and the sick, leaving some strong penguins to take charge of the cushions until the skua stops attacking and then leave together.

Golden earth penguin

There are 7 species of penguins in Antarctic continent, all of which have obvious population characteristics.

There are seven kinds of penguins in Antarctic continent, namely, emperor penguin, king penguin, Adelie penguin, golden penguin, hooded penguin, stone penguin and flashing penguin. They have the same characteristics and obvious differences. Here, you can see that the body is streamlined, with black feathers on the back and white feathers on the abdomen. The wings degenerated into fins. Feathers are thin tubular structure, needle-like arrangement, short webbed legs, short tail, fat body, big belly and stumbling, all of which belong to their same characteristics. In addition, different kinds of penguins also have this extremely obvious feature, which is easy to identify.

Emperor penguin

Emperor penguin, the "big brother" in the penguin family.

Emperor penguin, also known as emperor penguin, is the "big brother" in the penguin family. Their height can reach 90- 120 cm and their weight can reach 40-50kg. They mainly live in the Antarctic continent and the surrounding islands. Emperor penguins breed in extremely harsh winters. Every time the female penguin lays 1 egg, the male penguin is responsible for hatching.

The emperor penguin wears a big black and white dress, a red and orange beak, and an orange feather under the neck. The feather gradually fades down and is deepest behind the ear. All the colors are harmonious and symmetrical, just like wearing an all-black tuxedo, a silvery white shirt and trousers, and a golden red bow tie around her neck. He is energetic and calm, like a very polite gentleman. In the Antarctic glacier, emperor penguins gather in groups, which is very lively but orderly without any confusion.

emperor penguin

Emperor penguin, be the "second child" and be the "gentleman"

The emperor penguin is the second brother of the penguin family in the Antarctic continent. They are nearly 1 m long and weigh 16 kg. They mainly live in Antarctica and the Croze Islands nearby. The emperor penguin has a slender mouth and looks like a "gentleman" with an obvious orange patch on his neck. It is the most graceful, docile and beautiful in appearance among Antarctic penguins. Emperor penguins are clumsy and cute when they walk, but when they are attacked by the enemy, they will quickly put their stomachs on the ice, ski quickly with their wings, pedal with their hind legs and leave quickly.

Penguins in hats

Penguins in hats

In addition to emperor penguins and king penguins, there are tiny, stone-eating penguins in the penguin family, the most widely distributed and numerous Adelie penguins, the mighty and resolute hooded penguins, as well as the golden penguin, a master fisherman, and the flashy penguin with a golden crown.

No creature here can have a larger battle formation than penguins. Whether it is a skua or an Antarctic seal, the number is very different. For millions of years, the penguin family has jointly built the life color of the Antarctic region and become a well-deserved master here, making this land of ice and snow no longer desolate. Originally published in Travel World magazine.

Golden earth penguin