PENGUIN

(SPHENISCIDAE)
JOHN REY F. BARREDO

There are 18 different species of penguins, and they vary in size and shape. The emperor penguin is the largest of all living penguins, standing at 4 feet and weighing 90 pounds. The smallest of the penguins is the little blue penguin, standing just 10 inches and weighing about 2.5 pounds. Everything about a penguin is fine-tuned for swimming. Their body is rounded in the middle and pointed at either end, which is the perfect shape for sliding through water. Their powerful, flipper-like wings propel them through the ocean.

Although all penguin species are native to the southern hemisphere, they are not found only in cold climates, such as Antarctica. In fact, only a few species of penguin actually live so far south. At least 10 species live in the temperate zone; one, the Galpagos Penguin, lives as far north as the Galpagos Islands, but this is only made possible by the cold, rich waters of the Antarctic Humboldt Current that flows around these islands.

Historically, humans have been the gravest threat to penguins. These birds are well adapted and have evolved to survive in their harsh environment, but sailors hunting the birds and their eggs for food or to use their fat reserves as emergency fuel gravely decimated many penguin species centuries ago. While those practices are now illegal, many manmade dangers still pose extreme threats to penguins.

http://www.terraquest.com/va/science/penguin s/penguins.html http://www.bagheera.com/inthewild/vanishing. htm http://www.terraquest.com/va/science/penguin s/penguins.html http://magic.geol.ucsb.edu/~geo10/Students/p en/rrindex.htm

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