Penguin party
Save Happy Feet!
Penguins rock. Everyone knows that! If you have watched Happy Feet or been lucky enough to see the wee waddlers down on Phillip Island in Victoria, you will know they are cool customers and cute to boot! However, like a lot of our furry, feathered and finned friends, they are under threat.
And guess what? Humans are the problem.
Not only are we taking the penguin’s fishy food from the seas, but we’re polluting their habitat with things like oil spills. And let’s not forget the big challenge, something you may have heard a lot about - climate change.
Let’s find out more about Emperor penguins, like Mumble and his mates in Happy Feet.
And they swam, and they swam, all over the … sea!
Emperor penguins are excellent swimmers and can dive as deep as 500 metres! (I wonder if they get water up their beaks?) They are also very good at sliding on ice, although sometimes they can come a cropper! Ouch! It’s a good thing they are pretty resilient.
You’re as cold as ice!
As you know, it is very, very cold in the Antarctic where Emperor penguins live, and many of them huddle together to keep warm. The way they keep warm is by shuffling around in such a way that all of them get a turn in the centre of the group where it is especially snug. What thoughtful creatures they are!
Stay-at-home Dads
Once the mum penguin (let’s call her Norma Jean) has laid a single egg, she slips and slides her way to the sea to find food and bring it back. The food is usually a long way away. In the meantime, the dad penguin (let’s call him Memphis) has to stay at home and look after his precious cargo. He has to be very careful not to do any tap dancing or any quick movements, because the egg is balanced on his feet so as not to touch thice. He covers the egg with a layer of feathery skin called a ‘brood pouch’. There he will stand, for up to two months through all kinds of wild weather, waiting for his chick to be born. What an awesome dad!
Mum’s home!
After a very long time out at sea, a weary mum returns home to a very hungry dad and newborn chick. She feeds the chick by regurgitating food. That means bringing up food she has stored in her stomach. Sounds disgusting, but carrying fish back from the ocean would be much harder! It’s now dad’s turn to go out to sea and find some food. Get your skates on dad!
Going to crèche
Once they have grown a bit, the young penguins are left in crèches – but not the ones your little sister or brother goes to – they are just large groups of young adult penguins. They keep safe this way. Mum and dad then go and find food for them.
A parent’s work is never done!
Save Mumbles!
You can help save penguins by doing the things to help stop climate change. If we reduce global warming then the ice won’t melt and the penguins will still have somewhere to live.
That means; turning off light switches when you’re not in the room, having shorter showers, getting your mum and dad to use the car less, recycling rubbish and eating less meat. And of course, spreading the word!
FACT FILE
* Male Emperor penguins can weigh up to 40kgs and females up to 31kgs.
* Emperor penguins stand at over one metre high.
* They can live to the ripe old age of 20!
* They travel far and wide, sometimes over 1000 kilometres, and can speak several languages (just ask one!).
* Their diet is fish, fish and more fish! And squid and krill now and again.