Penguins are one of my favorite animals, they are birds... that can't fly, and they swim!! I dont know where they came from or how the evolved into such a weird combination of adaptations but they are awesome to me. They live in Antarctica and off the coast on some islands. The largest penguin is the Emperor Penguin, It is around 4 feet fully grown and has an average weight of 85 pounds. Some of the smallest penguins are as small as 16 inches and only around 2 pounds.
Contrary to popular belief penguins actually spend more time in the water than they do on land. They also have a special oil on the their feathers to keep the water off... and they do have feathers. They swim close to the surface and use quick breathing techniques when they surface to spend more time underwater. They use their small flappers to quickly swim through the water by flapping them quickly, they can do this because of their strong breast and wing muscles. The average swimming speed is 3 - 6 miles per hour, but emperor penguins can swim at around 9 miles per hour!
Now some interesting and random facts about penguins. There are more than 18 different species of penguin. A group of penguins when swimming is called a colony, or rookery. Penguins can stay warm because of their layer of fat under their feathers that are tightly packed to help them swim. Although Emperor penguins only live in Antarctica other smaller penguins live in New Zealand.
I hope you enjoyed my info on penguins and maybe learned something.
Max
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