On January 20th we celebrate World Penguin Awareness Day. They are extremely agile, fast, and efficient creatures. They are threatened by habitat loss, climate change, and vicious oceans. Tourism is also a relatively new threat for them. Today, all penguins are under protection and are included in the Red List of Threatened Species. 10 species are considered endangered and 4 are near threat.
On the occasion of World Penguin Awareness Day, learn some interesting facts about them:
– there are 17 species of penguins in the world,
– penguins are marine species that inhabit the cold seas of the southern hemisphere. The most numerous road around Antarctica and off the coast of South America,
– penguins can stay underwater for a dozen or so minutes, and they forage diving at a depth of 50 to 250 m. The record for diving belongs to the emperor penguin (565 m)
– these are the only birds that maintain an upright posture. On land, they walk upright or slide on their stomach, pushing off with strong, shifted fleece,
– penguins are very social individuals. They feel best in a group, eating and playing, and spending time together,
– penguins’ eyes are bigger than their brain. This makes them perfectly able to see, especially underwater, where to spend the fourth of their lives. On land by myopic, – according to researcher Ben Lascelles, the penguin population has recovered by 80% in recent years. This is due to climate change, environmental climate, climatic climate, and also because of the increasing interest in penguins by tourists,
– the world also celebrates – probably the most popular – World Penguin Day on April 25th.