Penguins are creatures that vary in size, color, and vary in where they live. Penguins are considered different from every other bird because they are different in everything that they do. Their class is Aves which means vertebrates with skin that are covered in feathers. Penguins are in their own group the order of this group is called Sphenisciformes which means penguin shaped body. This order only has one family called Spheniscidae which is the penguin family. There are 17 species of penguins in this family. The largest penguins is the emperor penguin that can reach up to 4 feet in height and is followed by the king penguin which can reach up to 3 feet in height. The smallest penguin in the family is the fairy penguin which can reach up …show more content…
The skeleton of penguins are similar to an average bird. The bones in the wings however are different, because the wings of the penguins do not bend or fold like they would in a regular bird. It is necessary for the wing not to bend, because when penguins “fly” in the water they need the wings not to bend for propulsion to help them navigate in the water. Because the wings on penguins do not fold they use them to help balance themselves when walking in rigid areas. Overtime some of the bones have fused together to become stronger. Penguins have dense bones rather than hollowed bones, like in birds that fly in the air. Penguins need to have their bones very dense to go farther down in the water to catch their …show more content…
Penguins, like most animals in the world, need muscles to help them move from place to place. The penguin’s muscles are unique from other birds. Penguins have the same type of muscle that other birds have to have in order to fly that are connected to the sternum. In penguins these muscles are up to four times larger and stronger and are used to swim in the water. These muscles are the pectorals which provides most of the thrusts when it comes to swimming. The unique thing about the muscles in penguins is that they can generate heat without having to shiver. This process is called non-shivering thermogenesis. “Penguins have unusual mitochondria, in their skeletal muscle, that have many folded internal membranes that drives the heat-generating chemicals to process more quickly”(Animal and Plant anatomy, 2006). Another unique thing about the muscles in a penguin is that when penguins dive under water and need more oxygen they have a protein that can help store oxygen in the muscles so that they can survive longer in the water while hunting. One last thing that is very unique about penguins and their muscles is that penguins have tiny muscles that are attached to their feathers to help trap a layer of air to provide more insulation. When the penguins dive under water these muscles that are attached to the feathers then relax and let the air that is trapped, out to be able to go deeper
Oxygen breathing lungs are a universal trait of class reptilia. As such, it would have been necessary for the Plesiosauroid - a marine reptile, to return to the ocean surface to inhale air. Oxygen expenditure in reptiles is proportional to strenuosity of locomotion (Frappell, Schultz & Christian, 2002). Therefore the Plesiosauroid must have held physiological traits that enabled the species to avoid oxygen deficit while hunting deep-sea dwelling prey. This essay will outline the hypothesised respiratory, circulatory, pulmonary and sensory attributes of the Plesiosauroid as they relate to diving. These hypotheses will be supported by investigating the physiological adaptations of the Plesiosaur’s biological analogues, and the prospect of similar adaptations in the former will be speculated upon.
After watching March of the Penguins I was browsing the internet while I was trying to figure out which direction to take the essay in, because there were too many possibilities for the topic. Soon I found myself watching Monty Python, when the perfect sketch to start this paper on comes on. A newspaper reporter comes on saying "Penguins, yes penguins what relevance do penguins have with the furtherance of medical science? Well strangely enough quite a lot" He moves into a joke about research not being accidental. Then he picks up of the penguins "Nevertheless scientists believe that these penguins, these comic flightless web-footed little b@$#ards are un-wittingly helping man to fathom the uncharted depths of the human mind." The news cast flips to the scientist who introduces himself then states "...having been working on the theory postulated by the late Dr. Kramer that the penguin in intrinsically more intelligent than the human being." From there a multitude of science spoofs lead to the confirmation of this theory of penguins being smarter, even though it is clearly pointed out that the penguin's brain is smaller than of a human being. This causes the penguins to rise up and take over the roles of humans. After careful consideration I decided to discuss this clip as there really is no better way to introduce how animals are used in film as entertainment. Whether it is a crazy Monty Python sketch or the heartwarming love story that is March of the Penguins both were created for many reasons, but the most influential was the desire to earn money. For now just keep Monty Python on the back burner it will have significance later, lets shift to dealing with the questions being posed about March of the Penguins. How did March o...
Miller uses the process of penguin reproduction to explain what it looks like to follow an inward compass. Essentially after penguins lay an egg, the females go hunting out to sea while the males stay and keep the egg warm. When the females come back from the sea, which is a several mile journey, they often make it back within a day or two of the eggs hatching. After explaining the process of penguin reproduction, Miller explains, "They [penguins] have this radar inside them that told them when and where to go and none of it made any sense, but they show up on the very day their babies are being born, and the radar always turns out to be right" (57). The seemingly irrelevant story about penguin sex, is actually decidedly relevant to the reader 's life. Miller suggests that each and every day one must decide to follow a calling within oneself. Readers can easily gain a mental picture of the penguin sex whereas it is much more difficult to have a mental picture of the concept of following an internal compass within ourselves. Oftentimes the best way to describe difficult concepts is to compare them to more concrete things, and this can be done through
Most of the bones are pneumatic, meaning they are hollow and filled with air spaces connected to the respiratory system. Thus the hollow bones reduces the weight of birds which makes the lighter to fly freely.
Orcas and Penguins are very alike and also very different. Such as, orcas and penguins both swim in the water and they both stay warm in the cold. The waters that they usually swim in are icy. They both use their resources to survive in the cold and in the water. Also they are both black and white!
physical characteristics of the platypus are quite interesting. It is the size of a normal cat,
The Atlantic Puffin’s scientific name is Fratercula Arctica. Puffins are part of the Auk family, which is classified as the Alcidae family. They belong to the order Charadriiformes, a diverse order of small to medium sized birds that commonly live near the water. (A few occupy deserts and rain forests.)
Like I said moments ago, the penguin is known to be witty, meticulous, inscrutable and they of course live on ice! First of all, I can be witty if I want to, and I spend half of my time on the ice. By that, I mean at the arena playing or practicing ringette. Ringette is a part of me and it always will be. I love the sound of my skate edge cutting into the ice. In addition to that, I love the way snow sprays off my skate when I make a quick stop as well. These are just some of the way that I can relate to a penguin. In conclusion to this paragraph, I am most like a penguin because I often enjoy the cold
Thanks to evolution, Penguins have evolved into a group of aquatic, fightless birds, that are highly adapted to life in the ocean. This not only makes them one of the divergent and strange species of birds, but also has allowed them to become such a sucessful species. Penguins are mostly located in the Southern hemisphere ranging anywhere from the Galapogos to the Antartic. Throughout their lives, Penguins spend around half their time in the ocean doing things such as catching food and the other half on land raising their young. Their distinct tuxedo-like apperience called countershading camoflages their bodies, protecting them from predators above and below. Through out the “stepping stones”, the penguins grew to have a dense bone containing
Cold water is the key aspect in the phenomenon called the mammalian diving reflex. This reflex has been beneficially used for thousands of years by whales, dolphins, seals and other mammals that inhabit the frigid waters of the world. The diving reflex slows heart rate and causes peripheral vasoconstriction to keep blood and oxygen to the brain and other vital core organs. This reflex allows these mammals to conserve oxygen and stay submerged over longer periods of time, providing them more time for finding food, protection and travel.
Several models have been proposed to explain why might Archaeopteryx or its decedents develop the ability to fly. The “pouncing proavis” or “trees-down” model was proposed by J.P. Garner and colleagues in 1999. They theorize that birds evolved to the ability to fly by first living in trees and then gliding down to ambush prey. Natural selection favoured individuals that could glide the furthest to catch prey and eventually led to the origin of flight. Garner and colleagues (1999) believed that this theory explained three aspects of early flight: the model matches observed secession in flight evolution based on fossil records, it predicts a primitive bird-like animal had few adaptions to flapping but very complex aerodynamic feathers, and it explains the origin of rachis in feathers.
Dr. Dr. h.c. Grzimk, Bernhard. “The Penguins.” Animal Life Encyclopedia. Volume 7, Birds I. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1968.
Microevolution occurs when a species has almost insignificant genetic changes over time. The studies performed on these small genetic changes are usually tested over very short time periods (decades to a few hundred years). This is because it is difficult to find ancient DNA specimens to compare to the modern species. However, because of the frigid and preserving terrain Adelie penguins are the perfect research candidate. This specie of penguin lives, breeds, and dies all in the same location of their ancestors before them; leaving plenty of ancient remains. The researchers compared the DNA of the ancient (6,000-year-old penguins) to the modern descendants. This comparison revealed that some of the Adelie penguin genes became longer over time
The platypus is covered with a thick water-resistant fur, excluding its bill and feet. It’s body it streamlined, has short limbs and webbed forefeet to propel itself through water using an alternative kicking motion. The webs on the for...
The common hippo has toes that can easily move around in water and on land! Each of their feet has four hoofed toes that have webbed feet. Those webbed feet between each toe can use for simple movements in the water. With this animal it can be able to move around and ease through land and water. Adult hippos can hold their breath underwater up to 6 minutes. They also have a large head but very short legs. They have small ears but very huge teeth. Did you know that the nostrils that they use for breathing are located at the top of the head? Wow who knew that?