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Flightless bird: penguin
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PENGUIN (企鹅) is a type of flightless bird that spends most of its life in the ocean.
Penguins stand upright on land and walk with a waddle (摇摇摆摆) because they have short legs and tall, torpedo-shaped (鱼雷形) bodies. Penguins appear awkward out of the water, but they can walk about as fast as a human being. They also climb rocky slopes easily, sometimes hopping (跳行) from rock to rock. Some penguins travel over ice and snow by tobogganing (sliding on their bellies).
Penguins lost the ability to fly millions of years ago. As they began to spend most of their time in the water, their wings started to look more like flippers (鳍). This major change helped make penguins excellent swimmers.
The body of a penguin is specially suited to living in the sea. Penguins are covered with short, thick feathers that form a waterproof coat. Thick layers of blubber (皮下厚的脂肪层) keep the birds warm in cold water.
There are 17 species of penguins. The largest is the emperor penguin, which stands about four feet (1.2 m) tall and weighs up to 100 pounds (45 kg). The smallest penguin is the little penguin, sometimes called the fairy penguin, which stands about one foot (30 cm) tall and usually weighs about three pounds (1.4 kg).
Penguins can swim for many hours at about eight miles (13 km) per hour. Penguins swim below the surface, but they leap into the air for breath about once a minute. They can also dive much deeper. Some species dive nearly 900 feet (275 m) below the surface. The deepest divers can hold their breath for nearly 20 minutes.
Penguins eat fish, squid (鱿鱼) and crustaceans, which include crabs and shrimp. Animals that feed on penguins include seals, sea lions and killer whales.
All penguins in the wild live south of the equator. They are not found in northern areas because they will not cross into warm ocean water from the cold seas. Penguins can mainly be seen in the islands near New Zealand and Australia, near the coast of South America and far south, in the icy waters near Antarctica.
Penguins seldom visit land except to raise their young. They make their nests in enormous gatherings called colonies. The colonies are noisy because the birds often call to one another with a braying sound like donkeys. Penguins recognize each other mostly by their voice.
Some penguins kept in zoos have lived for more than 30 years. But in the wild, most species have a life span of about 20 years.
Penguin populations are easily disturbed by human activity. For example, even a small amount of oil in the ocean is harmful to the birds.(SD-Agencies)
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