Asia has penguins. Where do penguins live? At the North Pole or at the South? What do penguins eat

Guess the riddle: swims, but does not fly, but who is called a bird? Guessed? Of course - penguin. Our wonderful planet is inhabited by about 20 kinds these beauties. Water- the true element of the penguin. I think these birds are very attractive. Look at their names: Royal, Imperial, Golden-domed, White-winged, they have something, I would say, majestic. I think they are very wonderful and funny, like children.

Penguin psychology very entertaining, they fear how they do not like to be alone, just like people. Always striving to be together, going to big companies. You can't help but admire them.

Penguin habitats

Probably not only I thought that penguins can only live in cold climate and their house is harsh Antarctica. But no. It turns out that these birds have mastered almost all the earth's continents. You can meet these beautiful animals:

in TAsmania, on the coast of South America, namely Crested representatives of the species;
on the Sanary Islands Big penguins live;
on the aboutislands Stuart and Solander, on the south coast New Zealand thick-billed penguins are in charge;
Campbell Archipelago will introduce you to Magnificent penguin;
South Atlantic sheltered the Golden-domed representative of sea birds;
in Namibia and South Africa found comfortable housing for themselves Spectacled penguins;
Tierra del Fuego, Chile, Rio de Janeiro, South America introduce you to Magellanic penguins
and, of course, in Antarctica you can watch emperor penguins and adélie penguins.

Family psychologists or why you need to know where penguins live

If someone else mistakenly thinks that penguins live in the north, then I hasten to upset you - they live only insouthern hemisphere our planet. Do you know why we should know who penguins are and where they live? So I will answer: the penguin is not just a noble bird, it is also excellent family man.

If you want to learn something about quality relationships, then you should definitely learn from them. Penguins love to get together with their families and have fun. They talk to each other a lot live in groups and take care of each other. sea birds- wonderful parents, they are not alien sense of responsibility. They kiss their cubs, which indicates the ability to show warm feelings. purposefulness- the second name of the penguin, he will never deviate from his plan. Male penguins are always ready to stand up for their wife and children, they know how to withstand dangers. In conclusion, I will say that I personally admire these birds. Them appearance and psychological qualities. I will say to myself that I would love to go to the place where penguins live in order to get to know them better.

There are many myths about penguins: that they create faithful "married" couples, waddle around. There is also a lot of controversy about where penguins live: in the Arctic or Antarctica. The last one can be answered unequivocally - penguins live in Antarctica, more precisely - Antarctica.

Antarctic

Antarctica is the southern polar part of the Earth. It consists of: the mainland Antarctica, the southern margins of three oceans:

Quiet;
Atlantic;
Indian.

The area of this area the globe- 52.5 million kilometers. The seas located here are very "stormy", the waves can reach 20 meters in height. The water freezes in winter, surrounding the Antarctic with a dense layer of ice, from 500 to 2 thousand kilometers wide. And in the summer everything changes dramatically, the ice goes north. Antarctica was first mentioned in 1502 when Amerigo Vespucci discovered several islands.

At its core, Antarctica is the polar part on the south side of the Earth. Inside is an icy continent, which is about 14 million square kilometers in size, 2 thousand meters high, but if there were no ice, then the continent would not have such a height. The volcanic process does not stop until today.

This ice, by volume of 24 million cubic meters, is 90% of the reserve fresh water the entire planet. According to rough calculations, if all this ice melts, then the level of the World Ocean will rise by 60 meters.

Penguin habitats

The climate is constantly changing on the planet, and with the shift of Antarctica closer to the South Pole, many mammals have left this part of the earth, including most of the penguins.

So, where do penguins live - in the Arctic or Antarctica? To date, only 2 species of animals remain in Antarctica:

Imperial look.
Adele.

The remaining species almost all migrated south. The royal species lives in the Southern Hemisphere, near Tierra del Fuego, in South Georgia, Kerguelen, on the Sandwich Islands.

The crested species is found on the coast of South America, in Tasmania and on the islands of the Subarctic. And on the southern coast of New Zealand lives a thick-billed and small penguin. A large penguin settled on the Snar Islands.

The Galapagos Islands are home to 90% of the penguin population of the same name. The white-winged penguin inhabited the southern coast of Australia, it is also found in New Zealand, in the south.

Where there is a cold current, a spectacled species lives in Namibia and South Africa. The Humboldt penguin lives on the coasts of Peru and Chile.

These animals also live in other places, but not in the Arctic. Therefore, the question of where penguins live - in the Arctic or Antarctic, can be called rhetorical. After all, the Arctic is the very north of the Earth, where the summer air temperature does not rise above +10 °C.

Who are penguins?

Penguins belong to the family of flightless seabirds. There are 18 species in this family that dive and swim excellently.

Their body structure is streamlined to move easily in the water, small wings are very muscular, they work like screws under water. These birds have a sternum, on which the keel is clearly visible. The penguin's feet have swimming membranes, and on land the tail serves as additional support.

The feathers of the animal are more like hairs, and the stomach of almost all individuals is white. While the animal sheds its plumage, it cannot swim, so the penguins have to starve until new ones grow back.

Even answering the question: "Where do penguins live - in the Arctic or Antarctic?", it still becomes clear that they live in quite severe climatic conditions. Therefore, mammals have a thick fat layer (2-3 cm), and above it there are 3 more waterproof layers. In the water, penguins see perfectly, but on land they are a little short-sighted. The ears of animals are barely noticeable, like those of most birds, and in the process of immersion in water they are covered with a dense feather layer.

Food

It is interesting not only where penguins live - in the Arctic or Antarctic, and what these animals eat. Naturally, their diet consists of residents sea depths. First of all, it is a fish, almost any that is found in the habitat (sardines, Antarctic silverfish, anchovies).

Knowing the answer to the question: "Where do penguins live - in the Arctic or the Antarctic?", and what they eat, we can also assume that crustaceans are included in their diet. But these species have to eat more often, but less energy is spent on searching, diving and eating small crustaceans.

Conclusion

If you look at the photo where penguins live - in the Arctic or Antarctic, you won’t immediately understand. In fact, these animals prefer moderate or tropical climate. In addition, they create not very faithful couples, they can even steal children from each other. Parentless penguins are usually not accepted by other penguins.

Decided to resolve two well-known issues. Many people who have not delved into the details often get confused and say that there are penguins in Antarctica, and polar bears in Antarctica. In reality, the nature of Antarctica is poorer. rich undersea world, and on land the kingdom of birds, and sometimes pinnipeds crawl out onto the ice to rest. If brought for acclimatization polar bear, he would have taken root here well, but the number of penguins would have significantly decreased - they find salvation on land, and now they will not have shelter. Many are concerned about the question - can it live without ice?

Of course yes! Only its population will be significantly reduced. On the coast of Hudson Bay, in the province of Manitoba, Canada, a colony of polar bears was discovered in the 60s of the last century. They spend most of their time in the ice, hunting for seals, but when the ice melts, they go deep into the mainland and feed on molting birds and their eggs. Naturally, it is difficult for them to feed on such food and they take most of their energy from their accumulated fat reserves. Life is always trying to survive, and the bear is a very adaptable creature. So, I am sure that the bear population will not die, but rather will be greatly reduced as a result of warming.

Now let's talk about penguins. These birds live mainly on the coast of Antarctica and in the southern hemisphere are distributed along places where cold currents pass. Their northernmost habitat is the Galapagos Islands at the equator. But few people know that an analogue of penguins lived in the Arctic - the wingless auk.

Great Razorbill (Pinguinus impennis)

These birds inhabited the northern islands by the thousands. People first killed them for food and eggs with ordinary clubs, then they simply melted them into fat in huge boilers. First they were destroyed everywhere in Europe, then on the Atlantic coast of America. The last auks huddled on rocky islets near Iceland, but in 1844 they were completely destroyed and wiped off the face of the Earth.

Is it possible to acclimatize penguins in the north? There have been such attempts. In the 1930s, they tried to acclimatize king penguins in the fjords of the Lofontaine Islands. But the experiment was unsuccessful: twenty years later the population disappeared. In 1966, 50 penguins were released at the North Pole in order to observe them. How surprised the scientists were when they discovered one penguin after some time near the Mirny Antarctic station. Theoretically, penguins can be settled on the coast of the northern islands, but the next question is: will they have enough food? As a result of intensive fishing by ocean trawlers, many bird colonies have disappeared or have been greatly reduced in size. So let the penguins reign in Antarctica while the states of the whole world have not yet begun to divide it in half.

In nature, polar bears and penguins live on opposite sides of the equator: bears - in the polar regions of the northern hemisphere, penguins - in the waters of Antarctica, off the coast of New Zealand, South America.

The similarity between them is that both live in the coldest regions of the Earth.

Where and how do polar bears live?

Polar bears settled in the northern territories of Russia, Canada, the USA, on the coast Barents Sea, Chukotka, Wrangel Island, Greenland, on the lands of Lapland. When the weather is favorable, the animals reach the North Pole.

Even the Arctic desert has become their habitat - the zone Arctic deserts, where in winter the temperature can drop to -60 °С, and in the warmest time of the year, in July, it rises only to +3 °С.

For most of the year, hurricane-force icy winds blow there, snowstorms are frequent, and in the harsh Arctic summer, at almost constant 0 ° C, gray clouds cover the sky, and fog from the ocean envelops the land. There is no vegetation in the Arctic deserts, with the exception of rare islands of lichen and moss. There are no animals except for the polar bear, arctic fox, lemming on land, and in the sea - walrus and seal.

How do bears survive in the Arctic wilderness?

They have adapted perfectly to the merciless climate!

The polar bear, also known as the polar bear, umka, oshkuy, is the largest land predator on the planet. Scientists and travelers have observed animals up to 3 m in length and over 1 ton in weight.

The layer of subcutaneous fat in a bear is up to 10 cm, and together with internal (“internal”, as they say in the north) fat, it makes up about 40% of body weight. With such a “heater” and at the same time a “stove” (fat is the main energy supplier in the body), the umka is not afraid of the monstrous frost of the Arctic, its storms and winds.

To match the fat layer and the fur of a polar bear. It has a special structure: white translucent fibers pass only ultra-violet rays and don't miss infrared radiation without allowing the body of the animal to cool down. The villi resemble tubules - inside they are hollow and are air chambers, which serves as another barrier to cold air. The fur grows even on the soles of the animal: in such "boots" the animal does not slip and does not freeze.

The unique thermal insulation allows the predator to live quietly on the snow and overcome tens of kilometers of the Arctic deserts and in literally icy arctic waters.

Where and how do penguins live?

Seven species of penguins - emperor, Adélie penguin, Antarctic, king, golden-haired, gentoo and crested - have chosen even more severe territory - Antarctica, as their place of residence, polar regions southern hemisphere. At the South Pole recorded in December 2013 the most low temperature on Earth - -91.2 ° C. And on average, the temperature of Antarctica in winter is -60 ° C, in summer - -30 ° C.

But, of course, land birds penguins do not live in such monstrous conditions. So, crested penguin lives on Tierra del Fuego, Tasmania, the islands of the Subantarctic. The endemic of the Snares archipelago - the Snares crested penguin - lives on islands that are densely overgrown with shrubs and trees. Subantarctic penguin - in the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Kerguelen, Heard and others.

The largest and fattest birds - emperor penguins, which weigh an average of 40 kg, are distributed to the south, to South Pole, farthest and live on the ice surrounding Antarctica. Only for incubation of eggs do they float away to more warm places.

How do penguins stay warm in Antarctica?

flightless birds in “black tailcoats” they adapted to live, if not in severe cold, like polar bears, but in constant “coolness”, when in summer the temperature often does not rise above + 5 ° C, and in winter it is predominantly -30 ° C.

They have a thick layer of fat - up to 3 cm, dense waterproof feathers, between which there is a lot of air - an "air chamber". But the most interesting thing is the paws of the penguins! They not only do not freeze, but also do not freeze to ice, snow.

Completely naked - without feathers, fluff - penguin paws have a temperature of only +4 ° C. Such a physiological setting allows you to endure severe frost as a norm. At the same time, the body temperature of the bird is 39 ... 40 ° C. Wise nature provided penguins with a unique mechanism of blood circulation, organized on the principle of reverse outflow.

With it, hot arterial blood, on the way to the paws, passes very close to the veins and gives off part of its heat to the already cold venous blood. Venous blood carries heat back to the heart, and cooled arterial blood goes to the paws, maintaining only +4 ° C in them. If the paws of the penguins were hot, they would freeze very quickly, but first they froze into the ice, killing the bird.

Another mechanism of protection from the cold - groups. So, emperor penguins gather in a dense group, heating the air inside it to +35 ° C, when it is -20 ° C outside. Penguins "circulate" in the group, moving from the center to the edge and back.

Most people confuse penguins with polar bears. No, if you show them a picture, then, of course, they will distinguish “bears in white” from “birds in black tailcoats”, but when you tell them that you went to Antarctica, most will say: “Say hello to polar bears”, and if you go to North Pole, then someone will definitely say hello to the penguins.

You can remember who lives where as follows: imagine a school globe. On top of it, polar bears crowd, rub against earth's axis and try not to fall off the globe onto the table, but below, under the globe, as if the bats upside down, little penguins run.

If polar bears do not descend below the Arctic Circle on the globe, then tenacious penguins manage to climb up right up to the equator. You heard right. Penguins live even on Galapagos Islands a few tens of kilometers from the equator and snow has never been seen in my life. The temperature there ranges from +18 to +28 - warmer than in Moscow.

In general, it is a big mistake to think that penguins live exclusively in the snow, in Antarctica. A lot of penguins live in South Africa, South America and even Australia and New Zealand. They live in burrows they dig in the sand.

In Cape Town there is a beach that penguins have chosen for themselves and live there as a whole colony. You can buy a ticket and swim with the penguins. The water here is around +10 degrees, so it’s better to take a wetsuit, otherwise it will hurt your legs when you go barefoot into such water.

The announcement at the entrance to the parking lot is very touching: “Please, before you leave, look under the car and make sure that there are no penguins under it!”

P.S. I'm planning my trips until the end of the year. All summer I will be on a big expedition and I won’t be able to take anyone there, but then I will have several interesting trips and I will be glad to everyone who wants to join me. Including a trip to Antarctica!

I will publish a detailed schedule of my trips in the next instagram