1. The Penguin chicks grow quite well in summer and develop a fuzzy down of feathers. They also grow a thick layer of blubber to keep them warm during winter.
2. Young penguins are fed by a method called regurgitation. This refers to the method of throwing back half-digested food as if from a cavity. Both the father penguin and the mother penguin take turns to bring food to the chick every day.
3. The Adelie penguin is named after the wife of a French explorer, way back in the 1830's. They are stiff-tailed. Their long tail feathers drag on the ground as they walk. This species of penguins makes its nest on pebbles, on the rocky beaches of Antartica. Adelie penguins lay tow eggs even though only one of them hatch.
4. Emperor penguins can stay underwater longer than any other bird.
5. If you happen to visit the Jurong bird park at Singapore, you can see the penguins kept in air-conditioned rooms with huge blocks of ice all over the room.
6. Penguins reduce blood flow to their feet by varying the diameter of arterial vessels. This keeps their feet a degree or two above freezing, minimizing heat loss, while escaping frostbite.
7. Penguins do not drink water but eat snow while on land. While at sea they swallow a lot of salty water along with the fish and squid that they eat. The salty water thus swallowed, gets filtered by means of a gland located in their nose.
8. The Chinstrap penguins are the most numerous penguins in the world. They live in the subantarctic region and the Antarctic peninsula.
9. Penguins breed in huge colonies called rookeries. In the rookery the downy chicks herd together into creeches for warmth and protection as they get older.
10. Rockhoppers are part of a family of penguins called the crested penguins because of the brightly coloured feathers on their head. They are smallest of the crested penguins and are identified by the way they hop from boulder to boulder when moving.