ALL WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT PENGUINS

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

The origin of the Penguins


The origin of the Penguins is unclear. Probably they represent the evolution of bird-like gulls. They lived in a state where they were both able to fly and swim and today no longer know to fly, but are excellent swimmers and divers. They use their wings as flippers to move in where they move with elegance and agility, jumping out at regular intervals, such as dolphins, to breathe. The penguins live on the coasts of the entire southern hemisphere, from the South Pole to the Galapagos or even near the equator. There are 17 species of these birds of very different sizes: the emperor penguin, which is a high and twenty meters and weighs 40 kg., The child penguin, which is 30 cm high. and weighs just over a kilo. We have found skeletons of penguins that reached two meters in height. Birds are very long life, which lasts an average of fifteen to twenty years. Physical Most penguins have white breast and head and back blacks. Many species have red, orange or yellow on the head and neck. Feet short and backward relative to their body require the typical upright posture. Although descendants of progenitors able to fly, penguins are specialized in swimming: their wings held stiff and tight, resembling the flippers of vertebrate swimmers. Unlike most birds, penguins do not have different pens for different functions, but they are uniformly covered by small feathers all the same, similar to flakes. While most of the birds making the changes throughout the year, the penguins are changing all the pens in a shorter period, during which some species lose even the outer layers of the beak. During moulting, which can last several weeks, the Penguins have a swollen appearance and arruffato, do not enter the water and therefore remain fasting. The ability to withstand intense cold is a major resource for these animals. The dispersion of heat is limited by anatomical measures, such as the reduction of the body surface in relation to the volume: most of the Penguins have, for example, feet, wings and head rather small, as well as all the penguins have a thick layer of fat under the skin, which functions as a thermal insulator. Some species are better equipped for cold weather than others in this regard, the emperor penguin, which can weigh 27 to 32 kg, appears to be the best equipped of all.


REPRESENTATIVE SPECIES



The Emperor penguin to reach the meter in height. Born between the ice of the frozen continent where migration to pass the harsh winter. It 'the only one, along with the Adelie penguin, a breed in Antarctica. The female lays a single egg that is entrusted to the male, who incubated holding between the paws. The penguin is the smallest real but very similar to the emperor. The Adelie penguin, the only representative of the genus with decidedly short beak, until a few years ago was the most numerous species, but the increasing human presence in the Antarctic continent and the accumulation of toxic substances have reduced the number. The male of Adelie penguins may fast completely for six weeks, whereas dedicated to hatching, in the meantime, the female goes to sea to eat, before you give him the change. This is in Antarctica and in the subantarctic islands, the papua penguin is probably the fastest swimmer and experienced among all. Indeed hunting fish and squid "flying" underwater. The crested penguins are among the most Nordic and they, in fact, nest on islands around all'Antartide and on the coasts of Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand. The arctic penguin is the smallest of the three species of the genus Pygoscelis. It lives mainly along the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula and subantarctic islands.




BEHAVIOR


When they are on land, penguins walk, skip or slip, they go on the chest with the wings and feet. Water is fast and agile swimmers, their only means of propulsion is the wings, because the lower limbs are used only as rudders. Swimming penguins recalls some of the dolphins as they travel some distance under water and occasionally emerging to breathe, bypassing graceful on the surface of the water. In captivity, the royal penguin emperor penguin and do not learn to feed themselves and, after they have adapted to accept dead prey, must be fed by humans. The Penguins are gregarious birds: on the mainland live in colonies comprising hundreds of thousands of individuals. Although these birds have suffered greatly because of man, who has massacred a huge number to get the fat and, more recently, skin, the inaccessibility of the regions in which they live has helped to survive. The natural enemies of the penguin is the leopard seal (see pinnipeds), the orca, and only eggs and immature, the stercorario. The penguins feed on fish, crustaceans and squid, and to reach their prey are able to dive to considerable depths (up to 400 meters. Larger species, but usually between 30 and 40 meters), even for long stretches of time (up to 15 minutes). Why divers are considered exceptional, considering that the record in freediving is about 100 mt, and that a man trained in media reaches only 20 meters deep. Likewise, the penguins are the favorite food of large predators such as orca, leopard seals and sea lions, which are the only fast enough to attack. The penguins in fact manage to reach an underwater speed of 40 km. at which we may seem little, but that's really impressive when you consider that vessels normally do not exceed 35 km. time. How are agile in water, are so embarrassed on the mainland: walk slowly and swing. These animals have un'andatura very funny and only runs on the icy reach considerable speed, setting out in long slips on his stomach. With that 'rocking gait seem docile, but can be very courageous. To defend their companion or small roll of very strong pecking. The penguins are very loyal animals and, when approaching the period of reproduction, traveling on the mainland in colonies of thousands of individuals, looking for a suitable land to lay their eggs (one or two).



REPRODUCTION



In the season of breeding penguins gather on land in densely populated colonies. The places for nesting may be even several kilometers from the ocean. The emperor penguin is being played in one of the most inhospitable regions of the world, during one of the coldest periods of the year, and covando laying eggs in temperatures that can reach -62 ° C. The courtship ritual of the penguins are placed in the acquisition of characteristics and a role to recall details, different from species to species. Even the method of construction of the nest varies from one species to another and some penguins do not build at all. The Humboldt penguin and the SFEN Demers prefer a sheltered haven for the construction of which use twigs and other debris. I of Adelia penguins, however, covano eggs on outdoor nests made up of rocks or twigs. The royal penguin emperor penguin and do not build nests, but make the only egg on his feet, bent over it so that the skin covering the abdomen and keep warm. Most penguins lay two eggs per brood, white or greenish. The incubation period varies from species to species. The eggs of the penguin demand more than 50 days of incubation before hatching, while those of SFEN Demers require from 32 to 36 days.



PARENTAL CARE


In general, small eggs and are cared for by both parents. The male of the Adelie penguin fasts throughout the nesting period of courtship, the spawning and for the first two weeks of hatching, while the female is of food reserves in the sea. When this water returns to give him the change to the hatching, the male will dive to feed and replenish their reserves of fat, then return to the colony, bringing food to children have already left dall'uovo. Both parents share the responsibility to feed the immature. Not all species are going during the breeding season, with periods of fasting so long as the Adelie penguin, the majority of species, it nests near the coast, so that they can carry into the sea every day to feed. At the time of hatching, most of the chicks are covered with a sooty gray plumage, some species spotted in white and gray. The chicks remain in the burrow or nest for as long as they are fed by parents. In some species, once it reached a stage of development that does not need more of continuous care from parents, are gathered together in areas called nursery, where they wait for the return of the adults went in search of food. Parents are able to recognize their chicks among thousands. After that the young penguin plumage has changed and has made all the new pens, dives into the sea and is able to look after himself.



NEWS THAT!

The six male penguins in the zoo of Bremerhaven (pictured), in Germany, are at the center of a controversy that involved gay organizations around the world. The penguins have ignored the four females who live with them, and formed three homosexual couples. Since the Humboldt penguin is endangered, the zoo has introduced four other girls, made by Sweden to arrive, hoping to encourage reproduction. But the boys have remained faithful to their comrades and there were no contacts with the newcomers, "said the director of the zoo, Heike Kueck. The arrival of the females has been challenged by the gay community in Germany, Austria and Australia as a "threat to sexual self."


CURIOSITY

A penguin in human height is not exactly the first thing you would expect to find in the tropics. Yet, 36 million years ago, penguins see a meter tall and a half run at low latitudes would have been a common event. A group of scientists has discovered the fossil skeleton of this "giant" in a village on the southern coast of Peru, located just 14 degrees south of the equator. The discovery has left scholars with mouth open for several reasons. Firstly, the height of this penguin, species Icadiptes salas, is such as to distort the real and present Emperor penguins, which reach the already considerable stature of 1-1,10 meters. The beak of the pen, to judge by the remains, was disproportionate and measures of unusual form: it seemed a long spear almost twice the skull dell'uccello. But the most surprising is that quest'animale survived peacefully at tropical latitudes, a temperature that, 36 million years ago - this is the age of the skeleton - were much higher than at present. Even today there are penguins, like the Galapagos, who prefer to live in warm water instead of in cold polar regions, but until now it was thought that quest'adattamento had occurred recently, and not in an age so remote. Shown in the "giant" prehistoric is compared with the Penguins today.





Published by rosamaria Irace