(standing upright)

The most striking feature of the penguin is its standing upright position; and the black and white colour!

The penguins look like a gentleman in his dinner jacket, walking with a little stiff gait!

The wings of penguins are changed into ‘flippers’ which are not used for flying, but are well suited for swimming under water, which penguins do half of their life time!

Penguins do not have ordinary bird feathers; they have scaly feathers which trap air and help the penguins to keep warm and stay afloat in water.

All penguins have an organ above their eyes that can convert seawater to fresh water!!

(sliding on its belly)

Penguins walk on land, but the slippery ice makes it hard for them to walk fast, so they slide on ice on their chest, which is called ‘tobogganing’!

Penguins congregate at specific locations during breeding season, which is called a ‘colony’ or ‘rookery’.  One can see thousands of penguins at one place – the record being 100,000 penguins at one rookery!

All most all penguin species do not build nests to lay eggs.  The male and the female carry the eggs on their feet covered by the skin folds on the abdomen for months on end, and when chicks are born, they, too, are carried on their parents feet until they are old enough to move about in the cold on their own!!

Penguins do not live in the northern hemisphere, and so, they are not found in the Arctic region!

Penguins have been the lead characters in several stories, stories for children and adults.

There have been number of TV and radio programmes on penguins and/or with penguin names.  There are comics, cartoons and motion pictures (films/movies) featuring these majestic birds.  Some popular movies are: ‘March of Penguins’, ‘Farce of Penguins, ‘Surf’s up’, ‘Happy feet’, etc.

The penguin has been used as a mascot or in logos of several internationals organisations:   {the following are just to name a few}