Penguins (by William)

Imagine you are visiting Antarctica in the winter time, and you see nothing but snow and ice.  Suddenly you hear honking, you turn around to see funny birds waddling toward you.  What are they?  Of course they are penguins!

Chapter 1: Where Penguins Live

Some people might think that penguins only live in Antarctica, but the fact is that some penguins live in the Galapagos Islands, Africa, the South part of Oceania, and South America.  Most people know that penguins live in Antarctica.  They have many layers of fat to survive the Antarctic winters.  The Emperor penguins stay in Antarctica year-round and they don’t build nests.

Chapter 2: Penguin Features

Penguins have special features to adapt to the world around them.  All penguins have flippers and webbed feet for steering in the water, soft feathers to keep warm, and think oily feathers to keep the water out.  Penguins also have bards on their tongues which face inward to trap slippery prey and curved beaks to hold onto their prey.  They eat fish, squid, and krill.
Some features can keep the penguins safe.  For example, penguins have black feathers on their backs, so when a predator is looking down at a penguin I water, the predator only sees darkness.  When a predator is looking up at a penguin, all it sees is brightness since the tummy has white feather.  This is called camouflage.

Chapter 3: Penguin Habits

All penguins have habits.  They include swimming, surfing, singing, dancing, sledding, and hopping.  Those habits help them adapt to their habitats.

Penguins swim to catch their prey, they also swim to get away from predators.  If penguins can swim, why cannot they surf?  Surfing is a good way for penguins to get from water to land.

Penguins sing to find a mate and to recognize their voices.  Chicks also sing to their parents to locate each other.  Penguin also dance to find a mate and show off their talent!

Penguins slide on their bellies or feet to get somewhere fast.  Some penguins hop 5 feet tall to get somewhere high!

Chapter 4: Living in Colonies

Penguins live in colonies for a lot of reasons.  I will tell you about each reason.

One reason for penguins to live in colonies is to keep warm.  How do they do that?  They huddle together!  They do that by forming a big huddle, struggling to keep warm mainly in the winter.

Penguins also live in colonies because one penguin has one pair of eyes and can only see small surroundings.  That is the risk of not living in numbers or colonies.  Living in numbers help penguins spot a lurking predator easily.

The other reason for living in colonies is to find a mate.

Chapter 5: Types of Penguins

There are different types of penguins.  There are 17 species of penguins living in the world.

The smallest penguin in the world is the Little Blue or Fairy penguins.  They only stand 30 centimeters tall.  They live in Southern Oceania.

The largest penguin in the world is the Emperor penguins.  The adults stand about 120 centimeters tall.  They live in Antarctica year-round.

The most common penguins are the Adelie, King, and Emperor penguins.

Conclusion

Penguin life is not always easy.  In the past, people used to hunt penguins and their eggs.  Now this is illegal by the world law.  Penguins are now protected.