When most people think of Antarctica, they think of penguins. They are certainly the most popular Antarctic animal. So, of course I have to write a post about penguins!
Penguins are very good swimmers. Their bodies are built to allow them to be very agile underwater. They have a streamlined shape that reduces drag, and their oily feathers make the water flow smoothly around them. Their wings aren't good for flying, but they make very good flippers to propel themselves forward in the water. Their feet tuck in by their tail to steer like a rudder. That's how they can escape their predators! This is a very short video, but see that white spot zooming around underwater? That's a penguin swimming just beneath the surface of the water!
Penguins breathe air, though, so they can't keep swimming to hunt for their food if they can't come up for air. But if a penguin has to come to a stop in order to breathe, they might be found by a predator! They need to breathe while they're swimming. So, penguins will also do what's called "porpoising". Penguins will swim quickly underwater, and then jump out of the water and dive back down. They look like porpoises when they do that. And, like porpoises, they do this to breathe air without having to stop or lose their speed.
You can find some very good facts about how penguins swim from this website. But I am a soil ecologist, so I don't see them underwater. I see them on land!
Penguins come on land to nest. While their body shape makes them good swimmers, they are much less graceful on land! To stay balanced on their two feet, they have to hold their wings out and back. In this video, the chinstrap penguin in the lower front shows you how they waddle over flat ground, and then hop with two feet to jump onto rocks. Their body shape is streamlined for swimming, but on land it makes them look a bit fat and unbalanced. They do tend to trip and fall down a lot, especially if they're trying to move too fast!
However, moving on land is much easier for a penguin when there is snow on the ground! Penguins will slide across snow and ice on their bellies. They use their feet and wings to push themselves along like paddles. It's like swimming on land! You can see the tracks through snow where other penguins have crossed the snow, so it's a popular mode of travel. (And if your sound is on, you can hear the musical stylings of a penguin colony.)
I see a lot of penguins while I'm doing my field work in Antarctica. This is how I see them: waddling and hopping around on rocks, sliding on snow and ice, and (if I'm near a beach) porpoising above the water. They are very cute, but I still think soil organisms are much cuter!
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