World Penguin Day, which falls on April 25, is a day to recognize a unique set of inhabitants of the earth. There are 18 species of the flightless birds on the planet, every single one originating in the Southern Hemisphere. Adapted for a life in the ocean, the birds have counter-shaded dark and white plumage and flippers for swimming. Most of them feed on krill, fish, squid, and other forms of sea life which they catch with their bills while swimming and swallow whole. A penguin has a spiny tongue and powerful jaws to grip slippery prey.
The emperor penguin, which lives around the Antarctic ice continent, is the biggest of them all. An adult can weigh between 22kg and 45kg. According to a 2017 estimate, there are fewer than 600,000 adult emperor penguins. This wonderful species incubates its eggs like other birds do, but only in temperatures nearing -50°C!
The word penguin first appears in literature at the end of the 16th century as a synonym for the great auk. When European explorers discovered what are today known as penguins in the Southern Hemisphere, they noticed the similarity in appearance to the great auk of the North Atlantic and named them after this bird, though they are not closely related. Sadly, the great auk became extinct some time in the 19th century, but thankfully the penguins are still with us, though climate change is threatening their habitat too, as indeed it is threatening every other species of plant and animal on the planet.
