10 FUN FACTS ABOUT PENGUINS

1. There are 17 species of penguins and they are ALL naturally found in the Southern Hemisphere.

2. The tallest species are the Emperor Penguins, and the smallest are the Little Blue penguins.

3. The fastest type of penguin is the Galapagos penguin! It can swim up to 22 mph.

4. Penguins used their colouring to camouflage in the ocean. Their black backs allow them to blend in with the dark depths of the ocean and the white bellies allow them to blend in with the bright surface of the ocean when looked at from below.

5. Some penguin fossils that have been found date back to approximately 60 million years ago, which means that some of these penguin fossils date back to the time of the dinosaurs.

6. Pengins tend to ingest a lot of sea water when they're in the ocean hunting for fish, but thankfully they have a special gland behind their eyes called the superorbital gland, which removes the salt water from their blood. Penguins are capable of excreting this salt water by sneezing.

7. Penguins undergo a "catastrophic molt" as they spend two or three weeks on land losing their feathers.

8. Most penguins breed in large colonies of up to a thousand birds called "rookeries."

9. Many species of penguins tend to mate with the same number of penguins of the opposite sex each season.

10. Many penguin species remain loyal to their nesting site. Many penguins will return to their old rookery where they were born.

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