How Do Penguins Get Through Winter? Uncovering How Penguins Overwinter

Penguins are born into winter. Penguins can live and breed in the severe cold of -60°C. Of course, after winter sets in in Antarctica, their companions huddle together to keep warm.

The penguin has the reputation of being the “boat of the ocean” and is one of the oldest swimming birds. It mainly lives in the Southern Hemisphere and belongs to the order Sphenisciformes, family Spheniscidae. Its characteristic is that it cannot fly.

Penguins reproduce by laying eggs. The breeding cycle of the same penguin species is also related to latitude. Some species migrate long distances to their ancestral nesting grounds inland to lay eggs. The African penguin and the little blue penguin breed 2 times a year, while most species breed only 1 time a year. The king penguin, however, breeds 2 times within three years. Most penguins breed in the spring and summer of the Southern Hemisphere.

Penguins mainly feed on plankton in the ocean, and Antarctic krill is their main food. Of course, they also prey on some small fish, squid, and cephalopods.

Penguins have a very good appetite. A single penguin can eat about one and a half jin of food, and they are also good helpers in maintaining the ocean's food chain. Antarctic krill is basically preyed upon by penguins, accounting for a large part of the krill eaten by whales.

It is understood that penguins are very ancient swimming birds, and they were already present in Antarctica before the ice sheet formed. Antarctica has a lot of land and a broad sea level, and their eyes have very flat corneas, so they can see things underwater very clearly. Their eyes can transmit images to the brain and can function as a telescope, giving them a telescopic effect. Although penguins do not have teeth, this does not affect their ability to eat, because penguins have barbs on their tongues and upper palates, which can fully play their role when swallowing food.