How a Penguin Grows
Penguin, a chubby friend who always wears himself in a tailcoat, often gives people two impressions: living in the South Poles and a bird that cannot fly. But how much do you know about this cute animal? To be frank, penguins can be divided into several groups, such as Emperor Penguin, King Penguin, Little Penguin,and etc. They often lay 1-2 eggs per time depending on the differences between species. If we search on the Internet, we might find out that growing process of a penguin can be divided into three stages.
The first stage is called incubation. Most of the time, the male and female penguin will take turns to hatch the eggs, but there is an exception—Emperor Penguin. Emperor Penguins are the biggest and save the most sufficient energy among all the penguins. And typically speaking, the duty of hatching is on the male ones, which Emperor Penguins will put the egg under their feet and cover it with their belly without building any nest. These fathers will wait until baby penguins come out of the eggs without having any meal, losing lots of their original weight. Then people might think what the female Emperor Penguins do during this time. They swim in the sea and search for food that can provide them sufficient energy after laying eggs. After their husbands hatch eggs successfully, they will go back home and raise their baby penguins.
The second stage of our chubby friends is called chicks. After the birth of baby penguins, the mommy penguins will take turn with their husbands to take care of their infants in order to let their husbands eat some food because the male penguins eat nothing for a long time. Unlike human babies that can be fed with milk powder, baby penguins need to be fed with food stored in their mothers’ stomachs. Besides, all the newborn babies are afraid of hypothermia, and baby penguins are no exception. They require their mothers to keep them warm until the day they grow a thick layer of feathers outside their skins.
The most important thing for adult penguin, just like other animals around the world, is reproduction. In the last stage, we might find out that different kinds of penguins will be mature in different time. For example, the King Penguin needs about 13 months to become an adult while the emperor penguin needs only 8 months. During the mating season, they will have courtship behavior via their sounds to find their Mr./Mrs. Right. In September, the reproductive season, penguins will go back to the land where they were born to lay eggs. Also, because of their sharp ears, they can easily find their spouse from a long distance. In this stage, they can find their food by themselves, have their ability to swim very fast and walk flexibly on the rock but clumsily on land.
As mentioned above, the three stages growing stages of a penguin involves incubation, chicks, and adults. It is hoped that after you read this article, you can become more familiar with the life of these charming penguins. Next time when you visit a zoo again, you can be try to understand their their behavior glance and enjoy the air conditioner in the Penguin House.
References
Sieverson,D (n.d. ) Life Cycle of an Emperor Penguin: Lesson for Kids. Retrieved from:
https://study.com/academy/lesson/life-cycle-of-an-emperor-penguin-lesson-for-kids.html
Lily’s little house (n.d.) 企鵝的生活習性 Retrieved from:
https://102clps61217.weebly.com/20225402853034029983279633272224615.html
Seaworld Parks & Entertainment (n.d.) Hatching & Care of Young. Retrieved from:
https://seaworld.org/animals/all-about/penguins/hatching-and-care-of-young/
Sources
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https://elements.envato.com/two-emperor-penguins-an-adult-bird-and-a-chick-sid-U66Y3C4
Brookes, M (2017) First eggs for nesting penguins at Edinburgh Zoo. Retrieved from:
https://www.discoveranimals.co.uk/news/first-eggs-nesting-penguins-edinburgh-zoo/
The Penguin Project (2014) Q. What happens if a penguin’s mate dies? Will they ever find love again? & Do penguins
mate for life? Retrieved from:
https://thepenguinproject.tumblr.com/post/102896443640/q-what-happens-if-a-penguins-mate-
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123RF (n.d.) Royal penguins life cycle realistic poster with egg chick adult and indicating growth up arrow vector
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