3. Definition of Terms
• Penguins – aquatic, flightless birds
• Waddle/rookies – group of penguins (land)
• Raft – group of penguins (sea/ocean)
• Chick – young penguin
• Colony – group of young penguin
• Breeding – producing offspring
• Breeding cycle – from courtship to
producing the chick
4. Taxonomic Classification
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Aves
• Subclass: Neornithes (modern birds)
• Superorder: Neognathae
• Order: Sphenisciformes
• Family: Spheniscidae
• Genus: 6 genera
• Species: ranges from 17 to 20 living
species
5. Examples
• Aptenodytes – great penguins
Aptenodytes forsteri Aptenodytes patagonicus
Emperor Penguins King Penguins
14. Distribution and Habitat
• Islands and remote continental areas
• Nutrient-rich, cold-water currents
• Spend half of their lives on land, and half
in the oceans
18. Feeding Ways
• Depend on vision
– Relies on bioluminescence of crustaceans,
squids and fishes
• Catch with their bills, and swallow it whole
19. Feeding Ways
• Undergo fasting
– Breeding seasons
– Courtship, nesting, incubation periods
– Molting periods
20. Physical Characteristics
• Size
– Height: from 1.1 m. (3.7 ft.) to 41 cm. (16 in.)
– Weight: from 41 kg. (90 lb.) to 1 kg. (2.2 lb.)
21. Physical Characteristics
• Coloration
– Countershading (dark backs, light undersides)
– Distinct markings with each species
– Chicks, juveniles and immature penguins
have different markings
22. Senses
• Hearing
– Average hearing used by parents and chicks
for locating each other
– Mate recognition
23. Senses
• Eyesight
– Adapted for seeing in land and in water
– Color vision sensitive to violet, blue, and
green wavelengths
24. Senses
• Smell
– Not sure if they can smell
– Studies on Humboldt penguins showed that
this particular specie can smell
25. Adaptations
• Swimming
– Streamlined shape body
• Hunches its head to the shoulders, and keeps feet
pressed close to the body against the tail
– Paddle-like flippers
• Flattened and broadened bones
• Covered with short, scale-like feathers
– Solid, dense bones to overcome buoyancy
– Coming to surface
• Porpoising – leap in and out of the water
26. Adaptations
• Diving*
– Reduced heart rate
– Reduced blood flow
* Generally not exhibited by penguins
27. Adaptations
• Respiration
– Have lungs for inhaling and exhaling
• Inhales and exhales rapidly at the surface
– Have multiple air sacs
29. Adaptations
• Thermoregulation
– Dark plumage on dorsal side
– Overlapping feathers
– Tucks in flippers, and shiver to conserve heat
– Fat layer
– Tips up their feet
– Huddle together
30. Adaptations
• Thermoregulation
– For temperate and tropical penguins
• Panting
• Ruffle their feathers
• Hold its flippers away from the body
• Lack feathers on legs and have bare patches on
face
31. Communication
• Vocalization
– Individually identifiable for mating and mother-
chick recognition
– 3 kinds
• Contact call
• Display call
• Threat call
32. Reproduction
• Breeding
– Sexual maturity: 3 to 8 years
– Breeding season: mostly from spring to
summer
• King penguin – (longest breeding cycle) 14 to 16
months
• Emperor penguins – during winter
• Fairy penguin – (shortest breeding cycle) 50 days
33. Reproduction
• Courtship
– Males display first to establish a nest and
attract a mate
– 3 distinct types of display
• Ecstatic or trumpeting
• Mutual
• Bowing
34. Reproduction
• Courtship
– Mostly monogamous
– Females selects the same male for the next
breeding season
• If not, it is because they arrived at different times
or the male failed to return to the nesting area
35. Reproduction
• Nesting
– Males arrive first to the nesting area
– Females follow 1 to 5 days after
– They nest on the place where they hatched
– Nesting areas vary:
• Some near beaches, or steep areas, or burrowed
deposits
36. Care of the Chicks
• Both parents feed the chick
– Regurgitated food
• Cover the chick with brood patch
• Male penguin cares for the chick when the
female leaves for food
37. Ecological Role
• Serve as food for other species
– Without them, those species will have to catch
other prey, which might disrupt the food chain
– Ex. leopard seals would shift to krill diet which
would decrease the survival of other species
eating the same thing
As opposed to Archaeornithes and Enantiornithes birds which have teeth neognath – fused metacarpals and modern jawbones There are other species under different subfamilies
emperor - largest
Blackfooted penguin larger species are in cold places
- Free from land predators
- Krill – shrimp-like crustacean - For example, Adelie eat small krills only. Most of the time smaller penguins eat krill and squid, larger ones eat fishes.
For building up fat layer for reserves Length of fasting depends on sex, species and type of fasting
- emperor, fairy penguin
- Avoidance of predators and catching of prey’ Dark blends with ocean depth when viewed from above light blends with the light surface of the sea when viewed from below
- Not a penguin, but just to show the supraorbital gland
Overlapping feathers – waterproofing from cold water Trapping of air – provide thermal insulation Tips feet – to lessen contact with ice
Contact – to search for members Display – between partners Threat – defending and warning against enemies
Breeding season – varies from species to species Why winter? So that the conditions for the growing chick would be favorable
Ecstatic – for males, used to defend its nest, attracts females, and warn other males; outstretched flippers and squawk Mutual – done in unison Bowing – strengthen recognition among partners
- Able to recognize their chick through the distinctive call