Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Chinstrap penguin. Penguins are birds in the family Spheniscidae in the monotypic order Sphenisciformes. [1] They inhabit high-productivity marine habitats, almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere; the only species to occur north of the Equator is the Galapagos penguin.
Penguins (order Sphenisciformes, family Spheniscidae) are an order of flightless birds living in the southern hemisphere. They are not, contrary to popular belief, only found in cold climates, such as Antarctica .
Sphenisciformes (from the Latin for "wedge-shaped") is the taxonomic order to which the penguins belong. BirdLife International has assessed 18 species. 16 (89% of total species) have had their population estimated: those missing are the king and little penguins , both of which have been assessed as being of least concern .
Emperor penguins breed during the cold, dark, harsh winter months. They begin arriving in their breeding colonies between March and April and once having found their mate, the females will lay a ...
Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae (/ s f ɪ ˈ n ɪ s ɪ d iː,-d aɪ /) of the order Sphenisciformes (/ s f ɪ ˈ n ɪ s ə f ɔːr m iː z /). [4] They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator.
Even though they live in large colonies, emperor penguins are the least common Antarctic penguins. Scientists estimate anywhere from 265,000 to 278,000 breeding pairs are left in the wild.
The flightless penguins are almost all located in the Southern Hemisphere (the only exception is the equatorial Galapagos penguin), with the greatest concentration located on and around Antarctica. Four of the eighteen penguin species live and breed on the mainland and its close offshore islands.
The emperor penguin breeds in the coldest environment of any bird species; air temperatures may reach −40 °C (−40 °F), and wind speeds may reach 144 km/h (89 mph). Water temperature is a frigid −1.8 °C (28.8 °F), which is much lower than the emperor penguin's average body temperature of 39 °C (102 °F).