Why can't penguins fly?

Penguin is one of the oldest swimming birds, probably settled in Antarctica before wearing ice armor, can live and breed in the cold of-60 ℃, and mainly feed on krill, squid and small fish, but because penguins are birds, many people want to know if penguins can fly, so let's take a look at why penguins can't fly.

Can penguins fly or not?

Penguins can't fly. Penguins are typical seabirds. Although they can't fly, they are super swimmers among birds. Many waterbirds swim by rowing their webbed feet in the water. Although the penguin's feet are webbed, they are only used as a rudder to control the direction. The strength to move forward depends on the paddle-like wings that flutter and fly in the water.

Why can't penguins fly?

There have long been several theories explaining why penguins cannot fly. One view is that some species lose their ability to fly because of a lack of predators on the ground. Another point of view is the biomechanical hypothesis that birds must use wings to do two different tasks when flying and diving, and it is impossible to create wings that are good at both. Penguins once faced an evolutionary choice between flying in the air or swimming flexibly under water, and their flight ability became weaker and weaker as their wings became more efficient when diving. At some point, flying becomes very laborious, so the best option is to give up flying and shrink the wings into flippers.

How fast do penguins swim?

Penguins swim very fast. Emperor penguins can swim about 10 kilometers an hour, while white-topped penguins have a record of 36 kilometers an hour, which is the fastest of all birds. Penguins often swim in the dolphin style, that is, diving for a distance, rise to the surface for air, and then dive to continue swimming. In fact, penguins are also the champion divers among birds, with a record of diving for 18 minutes and 265 meters.

Why are penguins not afraid of the cold?

Although Antarctica is extremely cold, penguins have thick fat on their bodies after tens of millions of years of snowstorms, and their feathers have become overlapping and closely connected scales. this special feather coat is not only difficult for the sea water to soak, but also cannot break through its heat preservation line even if the temperature is close to minus 100 degrees Celsius. Moreover, penguins have formed a unique vascular system under long-term evolution, and the arteries and meridians are three-dimensional interlaced. The cold blood flowing back to the heart and the hot blood flowing out of the heart can be exchanged, thus ensuring the temperature of the blood.