Penguins on Rocks To find the next penguins, head a little north of Antarctica. Here, cold ocean currents rush past rocky islands. Winds blast these islands. It can snow, but it rarely drops below freezing. Even so, life is tough for the penguins that live here. Take a look at the life of Southern rockhoppers, for example. T ese rockhoppers are among the smallest
penguins. T ey share their environment with birds of prey called skuas. T e skuas grab eggs and steal chicks. T is
penguin isn’t afraid to fight back. Yet it doesn’t fight alone. Many rockhoppers team up. T ey peck the skuas. T ey chase the big birds away. T anks to their environment, rockhoppers
also don’t move like other penguins. T ey don’t waddle. T at’s because it’s not flat where they live. It’s rocky. So the rockhoppers hop from rock to rock. T ey jump their way up tall cliff s.
A rockhopper penguin leaps from rock to rock.
Getting Warmer Head north again. Stop in New Zealand. It’s temperate here. T at means it never gets really cold or really hot. Yet penguins here face a new challenge. With all their warm feathers and blubber, they risk overheating. T ese penguins have ways to beat the heat.
T ey pant to cool down. T ey unhook their feathers and spread them out. Now, a cool breeze can get past the feathers. It can reach the bird’s skin and cool it down. T ese birds also use their environment to
keep cool. A yellow-eyed penguin, for example, waddles into a forest. Here, tall trees and thick ferns block the sun. It finds a spot between tangled tree roots. T ere, the penguin can stay cool and out of the sun.
Some Like It Hot You can find African penguins in an even hotter place. T ey live on sunny, sandy beaches along the southern tip of Africa. T is penguin has a physical adaptation that
keeps it from getting too hot. Pink patches surround its eyes. T ese patches are bare skin with no feathers. T ey help cool the bird by letting heat escape the bird’s body. An African penguin also keeps cool by
finding shade. It crawls between rocks and under bushes. It digs burrows in dried up seabird poop. If it gets too hot, it dives into the sea. Cold water from Antarctica runs along the coast. Now, the penguin must hook its feathers to stay warm. From beaches to glaciers, all of these
penguins have adaptations that let them live in extreme places. On land, they may find shade or shiver together. T en, when life on land gets too hard, they dive into the water. T ere, these birds really show why they’re such survivors. T eir bodies are built, not to fly, but to swim in the cold sea.
8 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXTREME EXPLORER
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24