DAY 49: SMELLY PENGUINS

THERE'S A FUNNY SMELL ROUND HERE....DID YOU WIPE YOUR FEET OFF, JUNIOR?

The interesting thing about these birds, big or small, is that no matter how cute they come across in cartoon movies, they are incredibly and insufferably SMELLY!  

While swimming penguins will leap above the water, this is called porpoising. This action coats their feathers with tiny bubbles that reduce friction, allowing them to swim up to 32 kph. This enables them to breathe more regularly, evade predators, and some scientists claim they make these leaps above water.....wait for it.....out of SHEER JOY!  I LIKE that!

The other amusing fact is that once a year they have what is seriously called a 'catastrophic' moult. .
This means that their feathers are completely replaced, and while the new ones are growing, they cannot go into the sea, so they have to gorge themselves on food to prepare for the long wait until they can go fishing again.  


What else to say about them.....well here's a little rhyme from a poem book called Antarctic Antics:

"They decided even penguins

Have to take the time to play.

So we go belly sliding,
Ta-tum-tum-tummy gliding;

Down the glacier's glassy side we begin our ripping ride.

And soon we're stomach slipping,

Fearlessly flip-flop-flipping,

Flying sixty miles an hour

Solely fueled by penguin power.

Soaring far too fast to stop,

We shoot off the glacier's top;

Downward through the air we drop,

Landing with a wet kerplop."