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The physiology of underwater diving is the physiological adaptations to diving of air-breathing vertebrates that have returned to the ocean from terrestrial lineages. They are a diverse group that include sea snakes, sea turtles, the marine iguana, saltwater crocodiles, penguins, pinnipeds, cetaceans, sea otters, manatees and dugongs.
Penguins have a thick layer of insulating feathers that keeps them warm in water (heat loss in water is much greater than in air). The emperor penguin has a maximum feather density of about nine feathers per square centimeter which is actually much lower than other birds that live in Antarctic environments.
The Galápagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus) is a penguin endemic to the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador. It is the only penguin found north of the equator. [4] Most inhabit Fernandina Island and the west coast of Isabela Island. [5] The cool waters of the Humboldt and Cromwell Currents allow it to survive
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).
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.
For months a huge iceberg blocked the path of hundreds of penguin chicks but somehow they survived.
The flippers of penguins became thicker, denser and smaller while being modified for hydrodynamic properties. [10] Light bones. The avian skeletal system has evolved to be extremely lightweight with hollow air spaces that are highly integrated with the respiratory system. The decreased body weight resulting from these adaptations is highly ...
Diving reflex in a human baby. The diving reflex, also known as the diving response and mammalian diving reflex, is a set of physiological responses to immersion that overrides the basic homeostatic reflexes, and is found in all air-breathing vertebrates studied to date.