In the realm of nature there are lots of curious animals, which are truly adorable. Just remember the towering horses or to the delicate giraffes to remember it. But the curiosities of the penguins introduce us to a little animal that wins the sympathy of everyone who sees it. They seem to always be dressed in tails and walk with an awkward grace that wins us over. But they can be truly amazing. For example, they are known to swim at about ten kilometers per hour, but when threatened, their bodies even double that speed. Today in Supercurioso we investigate and tell you the best curious facts about penguins. Join us to discover them!
15 Curiosities of penguins that you should know
1. Penguins have feathers.
We open this tour of the curious facts about penguins by telling you that, Although they appear to be made of patent leather when you look at them, penguins actually have feathers. Penguins live in areas that reach extremely low temperatures and for their thermal insulation they use a layer of fat that is usually between 2 and 3 centimeters thick and also the feathers that uniformly cover their body. These are distributed in three hermetic layers of short feathers.
If you see a group of emperor penguins, you will notice that there are some brown individuals among them. They are the young ones that, during their first year of life, show off that brown plumage. What we see, although it looks like hair, is its plumage. When they become adults they will turn black and white.
But the plumage of the penguins goes much further, since it has the capacity to keep air and not let water pass, while they are submerged, making their plumage one of the most surprising penguin curiosities. The air that these animals keep between their feathers is used in times of emergency, as some kind of natural propellant that launches them like a rocketleaving bubbles behind.
2. The Elizabethan Penguin
This is one of the curious facts about penguins that you probably did not know, and that is that one in 50,000 penguins has yellow to beige plumage as an adult instead of black. These specimens are known as “Isabelinos”. Unfortunately, and although beautiful, these usually die before their companions, since due to their color they are not well camouflaged in the depths of the ocean, which makes coming across one of these animals extremely rare.
3. The fidelity of the penguins
Another of the curiosities of penguins that is often talked about a lot is their monogamy, because throughout their lives they will probably mate with the same partner year after year.
This, of course, is not always true, but it is almost a common denominator within the species. These curious animals recognize each other through their voices, since each specimen has a different intonation, which also allows their young to find their parents. The reproduction of penguins is quite curious, isn’t it?
4. An aquatic life
We add to the curious data of the penguins the fact that They spend 75% of their life in the water. This itself made them develop an excellent vision within the ocean. However, they are a bit nearsighted on land, as their cornea is very shallow to make it easier to focus the view underwater.
Fortunately, for them, these animals they have practically almost no predators on the surface, which is why they are not usually afraid of humans. That is why these creatures are so nice, one of the curiosities of the penguins that we like the most.
5. Great manakins
Another quality of these charming animals is that they are talented jumpers. In factwhen leaving the water they can be propelled with a jump until they reach two meters in height. In addition, among their physical qualities is the fact that they are very fast, which allows them to escape from common predators such as seals.
6. Types of penguins
Another curious fact about penguins is that there are 17 species or types of this animal. In this information on penguins we have already mentioned the Galapagos penguins, the blue penguins or the king penguins, although there are other well-known penguins such as: the Humboldt penguin, which lives in the Pacific Ocean; the Rockhopper Penguin, which is distinguished by having yellow eyebrows that you surely noticed in the movie Breaking the Ice; and the chinstrap penguin, which is distinguished by having a black stripe that outlines its face and makes it appear that it is wearing a helmet.
There are even records of a curious two-meter penguin species: the Inkayaky, found in Peru. It was in 2008 when the remains of this exceptional animal were found. It was a complete skeleton, including fossilized feathers, and it was a color that ranged from gray to a rather peculiar red.
7. The Penguin of Madagascar
In Madagascar there are no penguins, except perhaps in a zoo. Only one case is known of a rockhopper penguin that arrived on its shores in 1956 and that is the only “penguin of Madagascar”. And if you still don’t believe this fact, you can review these curiosities of Madagascar that will surely surprise you.
8. They can drink salt water
We add to the curiosities of the penguins the fact that they do not need fresh water nearby, and it is that through the centuries, by the same adaptive-evolutionary procedure, penguins developed a special gland in their bodies that allows them to filter salt water, so they have the largest source of water in the world, the ocean. This is not just any data, can you imagine that man had glands capable of assimilating water from the seas?
9. They can’t swim backwards
Another curious fact about penguins is that, although they are skilled in their habitat, they present a difficulty: they cannot swim backwards, like sharks. This means that they sometimes become easy prey for some of their predators. Another characteristic that sometimes works against them in the sea is that they are not capable of filtering oxygen from the water, so they have to constantly come to the surface in search of air.
10. They lost their ability to fly
Evolution affects each species differently. One of the curiosities of the penguins in relation to their evolution is that they lost their ability to fly. Of course, this happened millions of years ago. It is believed that it was a kind of sacrifice, in order to improve his swimming skills. In fact, penguin flippers are incompatible with flight.
11. They are carnivorous
In the food we also find some interesting curious facts about the penguins. For example, we tell you that it is a completely carnivorous species. Their diet consists of fish, squid and crustaceans.
12. They do not present sexual dysmorphism
One of the most interesting peculiarities of this animal is that they do not present sexual dysmorphism. Namely, They do not have an external physiognomy that allows us to clearly distinguish the male and the female of the species. They are so similar that the most effective way to distinguish them is through size. The male is usually taller than the female.
13. The males also take care of the eggs
Another of the curious facts about penguins that is worth knowing is that they are out of the ordinary in relation to the treatment of their young. In most of the animal kingdom, it is the females who take care of them. But the penguins take turns, the male and the female, to incubate their egg, which is usually unique for each clutch. They would be, along with the seahorses, one of the best male fathers in the animal kingdom.
14. Emperor Penguin
Among the curiosities of the penguins we could not fail to highlight the emperor penguin, which is the heaviest and tallest of all penguins and can exceed 120 cm in height and weigh more than 40 kg. It lives on the Antarctic continent, and is one of the reasons why scientists want to cool the Antarctic.
15. Penguins are capable of stealing
We close this information about penguins by telling you this curiosity that you probably did not expect: penguins are capable of stealing. Yes, just as you read it, these noble creatures can resort to theft. But under what conditions? Okay, if a mother or father loses their egg, they might try to take another couple’s egg.
In any case, this is not very common, since couples tend to be quite aware of their young, so it is not easy to take an egg from them. But…, cases have been seen, and this has become one of the most surprising curiosities of penguin reproduction.
And you, Did you know these cute fun facts about penguins? Are there more curiosities about penguins that you know and want to add to our list? Dare to leave us all your opinions in a comment. We will be happy to read you! And if you are like us, a declared lover of the animal world and its peculiarities, do not miss the article in which we tell you about the most interesting curiosities of dogs. Until next supercurious topic!