Our logo features a very unusual pair; a penguin and a rhino sharing a little secret. What do you actually know about penguins? We investigated our adorable mascot and were shocked by what we found. Here are 7 weird facts about penguins that are sure to keep you up at night.
- Most birds lose and replace feathers a few at a time – not penguins. They will spend nearly a month per year land-bound undergoing what is called ‘the catastrophic molt’ where they will shed about half their body weight in feathers.
Courtesy of Elston Hill
- If a female Emperor Penguin’s baby dies, she will often kidnap another penguin’s chick, but instead of raising it she will abandon it.
- Penguins don’t have teeth. Instead they have spines on the roof of their mouth to get a good grip on food. They even have spines on their tongues.
- Penguins can jump 6 feet out of water.
- Some penguins from the prehistoric era would grow as large and heavy as a human.
Courtesy of Daily Mail
- Although many penguins are monogamous (mating for life), some will mate with a new partner while their mate is still alive and in the same colony. Penguins will “cheat” on each other while they are nesting/raising young with another penguin.
- In some species of penguins, it is the male that hatches the egg while females go off and hunt [for weeks at a time]. Because of this, chubbier males are more desired in a mate (#DADBOD)
Courtesy of Ocean Wide Expeditions
