The Extraordinary Lives of Penguins

Penguins are only found in the Southern Hemisphere. These beautiful flighless birds are amazingly well adapted to their environment.

Penguins are flightless aquatic birds which live, almost exclusively, in the Southern Hemisphere. The actual number of difference penguin species is disputed among marine biologists. Some say that there are seventeen specific varieties while others claim to have identified as many as twenty species.
Penguins are only found in the Southern Hemisphere. These beautiful flighless birds are amazingly well adapted to their environment.

The Little Blue Penguin is the smallest of the penguin species. These small penguins are found off the southern coasts of Australia and New Zealand and have also been seen off the coast of Southern Chile. They are also known as Fairy Penguins, Little Penguins, or Blue Penguins and grow to about 43 centimetres, or sixteen inches in height, with a weight of around one kilogram.

The Gentoo Penguin is very distinctive in appearance. It has a broad white stripe across its head. and the chicks have grey, black and white fronts. Adult Gentoos grow up to 90 cms in height and that means that only the giant Emperor and King Penguins are larger.

The main predators of penguins while they are in the sea are sea lions, leopard seals and orcas. On land their are few predators, especially for the full grown Gentoos but birds steal their eggs. Penguins eat krill, crustaceans, fish and sometimes small squid.

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