In which month do penguins usually lay eggs?

The penguin is one of the oldest swimming birds, probably settled in Antarctica before wearing ice armor, a total of 18 independent species, the largest species is the emperor penguin, with an average height of about 1.1 meters and a weight of more than 35 kilograms. The smallest penguin species is the small blue penguin, which is 40 centimeters tall and weighs 1 kilogram. Let's take a look at the month in which penguins usually lay eggs.

In which month do penguins lay eggs?

Penguins usually lay eggs in May. The life history of penguins varies with the size and geographical distribution of the species, and the reproductive cycle of the same species is also related to latitude. Some species migrate long distances to ancestral nests inland to lay eggs. Spotted-billed penguins and small blue penguins breed twice a year, while most species reproduce only once a year. King penguins breed twice in three years. King penguins and emperor penguins lay one egg at a time, while other species produce two and occasionally three eggs. Most penguins breed in spring and summer in the southern hemisphere, and some populations of Papua penguins also breed in winter. Emperor penguins take a long time to develop, so they begin to breed in autumn so that their chicks can produce in summer, when the survival rate is best.

How long can young penguins be independent?

Penguin chicks hatch from their eggshells for 24 to 48 hours. After hatching, they show feeding behavior. They put their beaks into the mouth of their parents and feed on liquid spitting crustacean or fish food. At first, the young bird hides under the parent bird, and gradually grows up and stays on the side of the parent bird. The period from hatching to full independence of young birds takes 2 months for smaller species, 5 and a half months for emperor penguins and 12-14 months for king penguins. Semi-mature chicks are taken care of by adult birds in large groups, as in a "nursery".

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.

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.