Teaching Children About Penguins

The Little (fairy) penguin is the smallest one in the world. This Little penguin is as short as 12 inches and weights as little as 2 pounds. Its color is blue. The largest one is the Emperor penguin. It weights 48 to 98 lbs and stands 4 feet high. The color of this penguin is black, white and yellow.

Penguins are birds which only use their wings for swimming. Because of the shape of their bodies they can swim at high speeds. They are good divers and swimmers. When in the water at times they will take naps.

Some of them bounce instead of waddling on land. Many of these penguins can jump as high as five feet.

The daddy takes care of the chicks while the mother looks for food. Even though both will keep the only two eggs they have warm. Some Penguins lay their eggs on the top of rocks due to the lack of nesting materials.

Penguins move in small groups. When communicating they will use their flippers and head for sign language. Using them they are able to talk to other penguins.

There are many facts about their eating habits. The penguins eating habits are different for certain places and times of year. They eat by using the hook near the end of their beak. The hook helps to catch their food. They eat all kinds of seafood such as fish, crustaceans, squid and krill. Since they live near and in seawater this is what they drink. Although they have a gland near their beak and as they drink saltwater they store the salt there. As the gland is filled up they peck their beaks against rocks to empty it. Some penguins eat at the edge while others eat out in the water. There are some that eat from the bottom of the water. Penguins eat snow for fresh water. Their structure is made to clean out unwanted substances.

There are around 17 different penguins throughout the world. Many live in South America on small islands. There are others that live at the Antarctica, South Africa and New Zealand. Those that live at the Antarctica are somewhat small. These are the Adelie penguin, Gentoo penguin, King penguin, Galapagos penguin, Chinstrap Penguin, Macaroni Penguin and others. Those that are in Africa are the African Penguin and Jackass penguin.

Penguins are prey for many other sea creators. Some of these hunters are sea lions, leopard seals, Skua and the sea eagles. There are also land killers such as fox, cats, lizards, ferrets, rats and snakes. However the underwater predators are not able to see them. The penguins are camouflaged by the sunlight and snow. Because of their white abdomen they are not as visible in these conditions.

Children love to see pictures of animals and birds. There are several places online to see pictures of the different penguins. Also there is more information is also available.