PENGUIN AWARENESS DAY SPECIAL! - What Makes Penguins Amazing?
It’s that time of year again!
Happy belated Penguin Awareness Day, everybody! Sorry I didn’t write this post yesterday; I was too busy celebrating. But now I’m back, ready to tell you all about penguins on this special day!
You must think penguins are just silly birds that can’t fly. You may go so far as to think… they’re not even worthy of being birds! Yet you are quite wrong. Penguins are amazing in so many ways, and that’s exactly what this blogpost is about. We’ll analyse unique features about penguins and by the end of the post, you’ll be valuing us a lot more than before! So, let’s get started.
The Penguin Parenting Procedure (triple alliteration - score!)
Most penguin species have a very efficient method for parenting their chicks. What is it? Both parents share equal responsibility! They alternate between fishing in the sea and caring for the chick on the ice. Not only that, fathers go without food for 6 months while incubating their egg in a little hatch by their feet, while the mothers fish in the sea. There are far more penguin househusbands than human ones! So many human couples face difficulties due to an unequal distribution of responsibility of the child between both parents. Penguins don’t face this problem at all, so it comes as no surprise that most penguins stay with one partner for life. Now is that true love or what?
Penguins’ IQ is fantastic!
Penguins haven’t taken IQ tests, but we are definitely intelligent animals. For one, our sense of direction is phenomenal. King Penguin chicks must find their way back to their parents, going through giant identical colonies and avoiding predators. They don’t even have a nest to look out for - simply an area. Chicks can actually be blown away by the wind but will still get back. They usually do this by following olfactory and visual hints such as familiar locations or smells. Another smart thing about penguins is that we use rapid information processing to predict where our prey will go when hunting. African penguins typically hunt together in groups of 10-20, and they call to one another when they resurface to keep track of each other’s locations. This means they can distinguish between one another’s calls (which, to humans, sound exactly the same). So, we can conclude that while penguins may not be geniuses, we are certainly clever.
Tuxedo disguise, anyone?
No! You must be thinking. Penguins can’t be disguised in tuxedos. That only happens in James Bond movies! But yes, we penguins do, in fact, use our black-and-white colouring to camouflage with our surroundings. This method is called counter-shading. Our black backs are perfect for camouflaging into the darkness of the sea, which is very helpful when getting away from predators above. As for our white fronts, those are perfect for camouflaging into the brightness of the sea when on the run from predators below. So, the sea creatures had better watch out!
There you have it. Here are 3 facts that help you realise how amazing penguins are. It’s also important to note that penguins are super important for the ecosystems. Penguins help control fish populations and allow predators to survive. Without penguins, there would be too many fish and depleting populations of seals, tiger sharks and orcas. And there’s more! Since we penguins live in both the ocean and on land, we help both ecosystems thrive. Penguin poop has important plant nutrients from the ocean (such as nitrogen, phosphorus and organic carbon) which fertilise the land.
With that, I’ll bring this blogpost to a close. Let me know how you celebrated Penguin Awareness Day in the comments (and if you didn’t do it earlier, celebrate it now and share the experience)!
References:
"Baby Penguins Can Navigate Better Than You." Animal IQ, episode 3. PBS, www.pbs.org/video/baby-penguins-can-navigate-better-than-you-5acn1p/. Accessed 21 Jan. 2024.
ifaw. www.ifaw.org/international/animals/penguins#:~:text=As%20animals%20that%20live%20both,%2C%20phosphorus%2C%20and%20organic%20carbon. Accessed 21 Jan. 2024.
"10 Cool Facts About Penguins." ABQ BioPark, www.cabq.gov/artsculture/biopark/news/10-cool-facts-about-penguins#:~:text=Penguins%20evolved%20to%20fly%20underwater,buoyancy—the%20tendency%20to%20float. Accessed 21 Jan. 2024.
hugs for Pengi