Where Do Penguins Live

Penguins are aquatic flightless birds that are counter shaded black and white. There are different types of penguins. Currently around seventeen different species of penguins exist, of which the Emperor penguin is the largest one. There are many myths and much of ignorance surrounding these flightless birds. Many people are not even sure where do penguins live. Given below are details regarding penguins' habitat and how they are suited to stay in that particular environment.

How Do Penguins Live and Where?
One of the biggest myths of all time is that penguins need to live on ice. Penguins need to live near water bodies because they spend much of their time in the water. This is because penguins are flightless birds, but they more than make up for their lack of flight by their swimming skills. In fact, penguins can swim for up to a hundred kilometers without resting. Thus, penguins prefer to live on islands and remote continental regions that are free from land predators so that their inability to fly does not work against them.

Although all penguins are originally native to the southern hemisphere, they are not found in only cold climates. Only a few penguins actually live far south in Antarctica. At least ten species live in the temperate zone, of which the Galápagos penguin live as far north as the Galápagos Islands. However, this is only possible due to the cold rich water that comes from the Antarctic Humboldt current. Major populations of penguins are found in places such as Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South America. There are no penguins in the Northern hemisphere.

The main penguin species that lives in Antarctica is the Emperor penguin. It is well suited to deal with extreme cold due to many features. It has a thick layer of insulating feathers which helps it stay warm even when it swims in icy cold water. This is especially helpful because there tends to be more heat loss in water as compared to air. The Emperor penguin also has the largest body mass compared to all the other penguins, which thus, further reduces the surface area for heat loss. They also regulate the blood flow to their extremities, thus, reducing the possibility of freezing their blood. Furthermore, male Emperor penguins huddle together to keep warm and also rotate position to make sure that each penguin gets a turn at being on the cold edge.

On the contrary, rather than getting cold, it is a problem to stay cold once out of water that bothers penguins. For this reason, penguins often hold their flippers out so as to radiate heat. They also make their feathers stand up to flush out some of the warm air that may be trapped within. Certain types of penguins even have bare patches present on the face which helps to radiate heat.

Can Penguins Survive in a Warm Climate?
After knowing all about habitat of penguins, the next question that may come your mind is whether these flightless birds can survive in the warm climates. Penguins can live in warm climates, provided the water body present around is cold. However, certain penguins that are suited to cold climate cannot survive in warm climate though if a cold climate penguin is born in a warm climate, it might be possible but due to the acclimatization problems, it wouldn't survive for long.

So, now that you know where and how do penguins live, you may have finally realized that they do not need to stay on snowy and icy regions. In fact, penguins do not stay in the Northern Hemisphere probably because Polar bears do! But penguins are endangered animals and there are quite a few species of penguins that are already extinct. So it is best to that we try and learn as much as possible about penguins' habitat, so that we can ensure that their habitat is not threatened.