Of all the habitats, I am most fascinated by the sea. Oceans contain the largest life diversity on earth. From outer space, the earth looks blue and the reason for that is because more than 70% of the earth's surface is covered with water (oceans). Fishing is thus the major livelyhood of a lot of people, estimated at about 190 million. Fishes also serve a the major source of protein to over a billion people on the planet.
Apart from fishes, there are other sea animals and sea birds, ranging from sea turtles, sea gulls to penguins.
Penguins belong to a category of birds called "flightless birds" which as the name suggests represents birds that cannot fly. The are mostly found in the southern hemisphere which is home to four oceans; the south atlantic, indian, southern and south pacific oceans.
Penguins are well adapted to life in the ocean and they move gracefully under water compared to their clumsy waddling on land.
Despite the fact that they cannot fly, many penguins show their true nature as birds when they leap into the air from the water onto ice. They release air bubbles from their feathers just before they take flight. what this air bubble does is that it reduces the drag on the feathers of the penguin, thus doubling or tripling their swim speed before they burst out of the water.
Penguins also pop out of water sometimes in a bid to escape from a predator. As earlier mentioned, their swimming speed increases just before take-off and well, in flight, they are faster than in water.
The Largest penguins are the Emperor penguins, reaching up to about 4ft tall! I think I remember when I was at such a height, must have been 7 or 8 years old haha! so you can picture these penguins waddling around, about the height of little boys and girls.
Another feature of penguins that make them birds is that unlike most sea creatures, they do not have teeth. How do they eat then? they take down food with the aid of spines facing backward which line their mouth and help them guide down food.
For birds, there is something they go through called a molt, it's a process in which they lose their feathers and then the feathers are replaced. They lose parts of their feathers at different intervals in a year. For the penguins however, they experience what is officially known as a catastrophic molt in which they lose all of their feathers all at once. This happens once every year!
Unlike most animals, who breed with multiple members of the opposite sex, many penguins are loyal to their mates! They could mate with the same member of the opposite sex for many seasons!
Their bodies are well adapted to the regions where they live in (mostly antartica and other cold regions). Their feathers are very thick and help shield their bodies against cold. Sometimes, the outer parts of their feathers accumulate so much cold, that it is cooler than the surrounding environment, thus keeping the body of the penguin warm!
Their popular black and white coat is not just for fancy or to make a fashion statement, but it helps them while hunting for food and in escaping from predators. the black back helps them blend in with the deep and dark parts of the sea and their white bellies match the bright surface of the water lit by sunlight.
Penguins are beautiful creatures, but some of them are going extinct. The emperor penguins which are resident in Antartica have lost up to two-third of their colonies due to climate change in the past century. These birds rely on krill, produce by sea ice as a major source of food. The significance of sea ice to the emperor penguin is however complicated in that, when there is too much ice, the parent penguins have to walk a long distance to the sea to get food for their young ones and when there is too little ice, krill production is greatly reduced!
The African Penguin species mostly found in Namibia and it's environs are already listed in the endangered species, losing over 50% of their population due to exploitation and pollution of the sea which makes it difficult for them to survive.
It would be a great loss to the planet if such beautiful and fascinating creatures are lost to the world due to carelessness on the part of some or ignorance on the part of others.
Thanks to @sirknight for this opportunity to share
Thanks for reading!