penguins

The two types of penguin in the Antarctica are the Emporer and Adelie.

They are flightless birds but they have adapted their wings as flippers so that they can swim easily.

Penguins eat a range of fish and other sealife that they catch underwater. Their main food is krill but also squid, amphipods and Antarctic silverfish. They can also drink sea water!

The Emporer penguin is the tallest of the penguin species reaching as tall as 120 cm. They can stay underwater for around 20 minutes at a time. They huddle together to keep warm in the cold temperatures of the Antarctica.

Penguin's black and white feathers serve as camouflage while swimming. The black on their back is hard to see from above and the white on their fronts looks like the sun reflecting off the surface if you see it from below. Penguins in Antarctica have no land based predators but are hunted underwater by leopard seals and orcas. Their eggs and chicks are in danger from Petrels and Skuas and other large birds.

They live in mostly open areas, icebergs and rocky shores on ice, snow and mud.

They normally lay two eggs and can become very aggessive when having chicks. Both parents incubate the chicks and look after them once they are born.

If food is scarce both parents take care of only one of the chicks so the other will probably die.