Penguins are abundant, dense and widely distributed. At present, there are about 654.38 billion penguins in Antarctica, accounting for 654.38+0/654.38+00 of the total seabirds in the world. They are distributed on the coast of Antarctic continent and islands in sub-Antarctic region. When people landed in Antarctica, the first thing they noticed was the penguins all over the mountains. Penguins bring vitality to the cold and lonely world of ice and snow in Antarctica. Penguin looks lovely, especially its dignified, polite and gentlemanly manner, which leaves a deep impression on people. Penguins have shared joys and sorrows in the Antarctic for generations, exercising and creating a hard work to adapt to the harsh environment in Antarctica-the special physiological function of low temperature tolerance; The unique life habits of penguins, such as male penguins hatching eggs and young penguins kindergartens, have long been passed down as anecdotes; Penguin is a symbol of cold. When people see penguins, they think of Antarctica. The world is extremely cold. No wonder the products in the world cold drink industry often use penguins as trademarks. In midsummer, seeing penguins will give people a cool feeling.
It is the mysterious world of Antarctica that gave birth to such a strange "resident". Antarctic penguins, like polar bears, have become well-known representative animals. Where is the hometown of Antarctic penguins? Can the ancestors of penguins fly? What is the evolution of penguins? The origin of penguins is a subject that biologists are discussing and studying, and it is still a mystery.
However, there is a saying that penguins in Antarctica originated from a flying animal during the disintegration of Gondwana. About 200 million years ago, Gondwana began to split and disintegrate, and the Antarctic continent separated and began to drift south. At this time, it happened that a group of flying animals flew over the ocean. They found the drifting Antarctic continent, so they circled, watched and talked, and finally they decided to land on this land. At first, they lived happily there, having no worries about food and clothing, and chasing revelry. However, the good times did not last long. As the mainland moves south, the weather becomes colder and colder. They want to fly, but there is nowhere to fly. Surrounded by vast fields of ice and snow, they have no choice but to stay in this land. Soon the Antarctic continent reached the polar region, and after a long time, it was finally covered with thick ice and snow. It turned out that a large number of lush creatures died, and only the ancestor of penguins, a flying animal, survived. However, they have completely changed, from flying to not flying, from wide fluffy feathers to fine needle-like feathers, and their slender bodies have become short and fat. The physiological function has also undergone profound changes, and the ability to resist low temperature has been enhanced. With the passage of time and the turn of the century, they finally became modern penguins and became indigenous people in the Antarctic region.
Although the above statement is somewhat bizarre, it is not entirely out of thin air and has certain scientific basis. Paleontologists have discovered penguin-like fossils in Antarctica. The analysis results show that this penguin-like bird at that time has some characteristics of amphibians, with a height of about 1 m and a weight of 9.3 kg. Maybe this is the predecessor of penguin.
Emperor penguin, referred to as emperor penguin for short, is the largest individual in the existing penguin family and a giant in the penguin world. Generally, the height is above 90 cm, the maximum height is 120 cm, and the weight is 30 ~ 40 kg. In the sub-Antarctic islands, there is a kind of penguin that was once considered as the largest penguin. The English name is "KingPenguin", and "King" means king, which is translated into Chinese and named emperor penguin. Later, another kind of large penguin was found on the coast of Antarctic continent, which was one head taller than the EmperorPenguin, so it was named Emperor Penguin, which means emperor. This is the origin of the name "Emperor Penguin".
The emperor penguin is dressed in a big black-and-white dress, with a red-orange beak and an orange feather under its neck, which gradually fades away, with the deepest behind its ears and harmonious colors. In the Antarctic glacier, groups of emperor penguins gather together, which is very lively and orderly. The golden sun shines brilliantly on the blue "palace". Tens of millions of emperor penguins are like subjects of a mysterious country, wearing all-black evening dresses, silvery white shirts and trousers and a golden red bow tie around their necks. They are full of energy, calm and gentlemanly.
Emperor penguins are very strong, because there are inexhaustible cephalopods in the sea, so that emperor penguins can "have enough food and clothing." The swimming speed of emperor penguins is 6.4 ~ 9.6 km/h, and the average life span is 19.9 years. Emperor penguins breed in the cold ice of Antarctica in winter. The female penguin lays 1 egg at a time, and the male penguin hatches. The main enemies are leopard seals and killer whales.
Emperor penguins are distributed in many parts of the Antarctic continent between 66 and 77 degrees south latitude, such as Coates land near the Weddell Sea and Victoria land near Ross Bay, with a considerable number. However, there are only100000 emperor penguins left.
In summer in Antarctica, emperor penguins mainly live in the sea. They hunt, swim and play in the water. On the one hand, they exercise well, on the other hand, they eat and drink enough to preserve their physical strength and welcome the arrival of the winter breeding season.
In April, the Antarctic began to enter the early winter, and the emperor penguins climbed ashore and began to look for the treasure land of "settling down and starting a career". They walk, chase, play, fall in love and find a spouse. The love life of emperor penguins is quite interesting, and "love triangle" and "love storm" also happen from time to time. If two male penguins fall in love with a female penguin at the same time, in order to compete for the object of love, they will often be red-faced and black and blue. The loser, with his tail between his legs, left disappointed; The winner, triumphant and dancing, quickly ran to his lover's side, mouth to mouth, chest to chest and snuggled together. A similar situation will occur if two female penguins compete for a husband.
So far, it seems that there is no exact research and textual research on the marriage system of penguins, whether it is monogamy, polygamy or polyandry. However, judging from the courtship behavior of emperor penguins, it seems easy to accept that it is a monogamous family life.
After experiencing the above-mentioned twists and turns in love life, emperor penguins have chosen like-minded partners and found a breeding ground, so their love life has made a leap-they began to mate, conceive, lay eggs, hatch eggs and raise chicks.
The female penguin is about 2 months pregnant and begins to lay eggs around May. Emperor penguins lay 1 egg each time, which is light green and shaped like duck eggs, but it is much larger than duck eggs and weighs about half a kilogram.
Female penguins also have pregnancy reaction during spawning period, and their appetite is greatly reduced. Severe reaction lasts 1 month without eating. The female penguin completes the task after laying eggs, and the male penguin bears the heavy responsibility of incubating eggs.
In the huge animal world, it seems to be an instinct and an obligation for females to have children, and people have long been accustomed to this kind of thing. However, emperor penguins broke the routine and created the miracle of male penguins hatching eggs, which is a great feat in the animal kingdom.
After laying eggs, the female penguin immediately gives the eggs to the male penguin. Since then, the reproductive task of female penguins has come to an end. After a day or two, the mother penguin left her warm family at ease and went to the sea for food, play and entertainment. Because I didn't eat for almost 1 month during pregnancy, my mental and physical exhaustion was very serious. It's time to have a rest in the sea, have a full meal and recover my strength.
It is indeed a difficult task for male penguins to hatch eggs. Because the breeding season of penguins is in the Antarctic winter, the climate is cold and the snow is mixed. The breeding season of penguins is chosen in Antarctic winter, because there are fewer enemies in winter, which can improve the reproduction rate. At the same time, when the chicks grow up and can move and feed independently, the Antarctic summer will come, and the chicks can leave their parents and live independently. This is also the result of penguins adapting to the Antarctic environment.
In the incubation period, in order to avoid the cold and wind, several male penguins often stand side by side with their backs to the windward side, forming a windward wall. When incubating eggs, the male penguin's feet are tight and solemn, taking the tail as the pillar to share the body weight borne by his feet, and then carefully fiddling with the eggs on the instep with his mouth, and his body and feet move slightly until the eggs stop on the instep. Finally, lift a crumpled belly from the lower end of your abdomen and cover the eggs like a safety bag. From then on, the male penguin bent his neck, lowered his head, stared at and protected his eye with rapt attention, and stood for more than 60 days without eating or drinking. Until the chick comes out of its shell, it can relax a little, gently move its body, straighten its furry feathers, puff its wings, cheer up and get ready to take care of the chick.
A newborn penguin. Dare not leave his father's arms and walk around without authorization, still hiding in the wrinkled skin under his stomach, occasionally sticking his head out, looking around his father, peeking at the strange world of ice and snow around him, and soon shrinking his head to the sky. When the male penguin saw the newborn chick, he smiled happily. A week later, the little penguin dared to move a few times on his father's instep and change his posture. During this period, the chicks have no food to eat, and only rely on the egg yolk left by the female penguin as nutrition to maintain their lives, so they are often hungry and even peck the male penguin's stomach with their mouths. However, the little penguin didn't know what his father had endured and what the price was: he stood motionless in the cold snow, didn't eat or drink, only consumed his stored fat to provide energy and heat, ensured the temperature needed for hatching eggs, and maintained his minimum metabolism. During the period of incubating eggs and feeding chicks, the weight of a male emperor penguin will be reduced by 10 ~ 20kg, which is close to half of its weight.
Since leaving her husband, the female penguin has played enough, eaten enough and drank enough in the coastal ocean, and made up for the loss during the incubation period, becoming broad-minded, fat and refreshed. As soon as I thought that its baby was going to be born, I jumped ashore in a hurry and set foot on the road to my former residence, looking for my long-lost husband and newborn child. However, at this moment, has the female penguin ever thought about whether her family is a disaster or a blessing, a fierce or a lucky one?
The hatching rate of male penguins is difficult to reach 100%, the highest is 80%, and the lowest is less than 10%, and even the tragedy of "being wiped out by the whole army" appears. This is not because of the "responsibility" accident of the male penguin, nor because he is inexperienced and poor in hatching eggs, but mainly because of the harsh climate in Antarctica and the natural enemies of penguins.
There are two climatic factors that cause disasters, one is wind and the other is snow. When penguins hatch eggs, if they encounter a powerful storm of 50 ~ 60 meters per second, even if they build a windbreak, it is difficult to resist. It is conceivable that a strong storm can blow away tents, take planes, move buildings, and throw objects weighing one or two hundred kilograms into the air, not to mention little penguins! In the face of this natural disaster, only geese can break eggs, and fortunately they will escape. Especially the snowstorm, that is, the powerful snow flow set off by the storm, roared, roared, rushed over and attacked everything on the rampage. Penguins that hatch eggs are either swept away or buried by snow, and there are only a handful of survivors.
Penguins also have two natural enemies, one is a fierce bird-skua, and the other is a beast-leopard seal. Although penguins choose to breed in the Antarctic winter in order to avoid the invasion of natural enemies, there are unexpected events and penguins have good fortune. There are occasional natural enemies in winter. In case the incubating penguins meet these fierce birds and beasts, it is also unlucky, either the penguin eggs are swallowed or the eggs are broken. This tragic situation happens from time to time.
Newborn penguins spend their infancy on and around the instep of male penguins, who are both fathers and caregivers. Although the newborn penguin is ugly, furry, grayish yellow, staring at a pair of small eyes with an inner ring and walking askew, the male penguin still loves it. After the baby penguin is born, it sometimes squeaks with hunger. The male penguin is distressed and anxious, slapping his neck several times, trying to spit out some nutrients from his throat to fill his stomach. However, this effort failed and nothing was spit out. As you can imagine, from the beginning of hatching, the male penguin has not eaten for almost three months, and his throat sac is empty. Where can he squeeze anything out? Doing so is just a comfort to the little penguin. Therefore, the male penguin anxiously awaits the arrival of the female penguin.
With the biological instinct and the unique magnetic orientation and direction finding function of birds, the female penguin accurately returned to her breeding habitat. With the cry of the male penguin, the language and emotion exchanged by the penguin, the female penguin accurately recognized her husband and found her child. At this moment, the mother penguin not only makes out with her long-lost husband, but also thinks about her baby. Its first gift to the baby is a delicious meal. The little penguin instinctively opened his mouth when he saw his mother. The mother penguin puts her mouth into the chick's mouth and spits out juicy food from her throat. This is the first full meal since the little penguin was born, and it is also the first time that she enjoys maternal love.
Since then, chicks have been raised by male penguins and female penguins in turn. After the male penguin gave the chick to his wife, he also went to the sea to feed. At this point, it looks thin and tired.
Thanks to the care of parents, the chicks grow very fast and can walk and play independently in less than a month. In order to facilitate foraging and strengthen the protection and education of future generations, penguin parents entrust their young birds to their neighbors. In this way, one or several adult emperor penguins take care of a large group of young penguins. In kindergarten, my aunt takes care of all the children as carefully as her own. The little penguins listened to their aunt and had a good time there. They didn't take them back until their parents came back. Penguins in kindergartens are occasionally attacked by fierce birds and animals. At this time, the aunts will send out emergency signals, greet neighbors, come to reinforce, and attack invading enemies in droves.
Although the chicks grow up healthily under the careful care of their families and collectives, the survival rate of chicks is very low, accounting for only 20 ~ 30% of the birth rate due to the pressure of the harsh environment in Antarctica and the invasion of natural enemies. About three months ago, the little penguin was born, and the Antarctic summer came. They followed their parents to the seaside for food and swimming. When the Antarctic summer comes, they have grown plump feathers and abundant physical strength, so they left their parents and began to live independently.