Scovone Star Magazine 2016-2017 | Page 25

penguins don’t get eaten, luckily emperor penguins can live between 15 and 20 years. out in a creche, which is a group of chicks. After a long wait the parents come home with tons of food in their stomachs, so they have to spit it back up, into the chicks mouth, so it’s easier for the chicks to eat. After a while baby chicks grow up to be strong adults, are old enough to hunt and take care of themselves, and start a family of their own. Another way penguins might die is by getting too cold, so to keep warm, penguins open their feathers to let the cold air escape. Then they close their feathers and trap the warm air inside their bodies. Also penguins travel in large groups called colonies, to keep warm. Sometimes to travel instead of in groups they toboggan which means they slide on their stomach, but only on soft snow. Baby Penguins The reason penguins have colonies is because they have to mate. Sometimes when penguins mate, they go back to their birthplace, so they have to build nests, but king and emperor penguins don’t, instead they use a pouch to hold their eggs. Usually the egg females lay in their nest or in the male’s pouch is white with blue lining. While the egg is in the nest or pouch, the adults have to wait 65 days for the egg to hatch. Finally, after the egg hatches the male picks up the egg ,with his feet, and puts it in his pouch. This is a male, female, and baby penguin Although baby penguins have cute little gray feathers with pretty little black markings on their heads after they are born, baby penguins have to lose their feathers and molt. When baby penguins molt,. they get new and stronger feathers. Even adults molt, but their feathers don’t change from gray to black like babies. A baby penguin has to molt before they go out to sea or else it will be really hard for them to swim. Over time the parents have to take turns feeding their chicks, because sometimes the baby can’t swim yet. Usually while a baby penguin is waiting for their parent, they hang This is a penguin colony This is a baby chick in his fathers pouch – 25 –