P-P-PICK UP A PENGUIN FACT OR TWO
PENGUINS are amazing birds. They may not be able to fly but they can stay underwater for up to 20 minutes and shoot their poop more than two metres!
The last fact I learned from author and penguin expert Dyan deNapoli, also known as The Penguin Lady.
TED and Nat Geo speaker Dyan is on a mission to save the world’s threatened and endangered penguins and has helped rescue thousands of birds caught up in oil spills. Here, she answers our questions.
You have been really close to a penguin. What do they smell like?
THE adults don’t have a strong odour, but their babies do!
The chick’s downy feathers smell sort of musty, dusty, and fishy. And the colonies where penguins raise their young are VERY stinky, because of all the guano (a liquid mixture of poop and pee) on the ground.
What colour is penguin poop? THE colour of guano varies depending on what they eat.
If they eat fish, it’s green or brown. If they eat krill, it’s pink. And if they eat squid, it’s white.
Penguins can actually shoot their guano almost two metres!
This helps them keep their nests clean.
Do all penguins like the cold?
THEY actually don’t! Only four of the 19 penguin species regularly live and breed in Antarctica.
All the rest live in warmer places throughout the Southern Hemisphere.
The Galapagos penguin even lives right at the equator, where it is very hot!
Which are the smallest and biggest penguins?
THE smallest penguin is the Little Blue (from Australia and New Zealand) at 25cm high, weighing 1kg.
The largest is the Emperor, which is found in Antarctica.
It’s more than a metre tall, and weighs between 30 and 40kg.
How many penguins have you saved?
DURING the Treasure oil spill in South Africa (in the year 2000), 20,000 African penguins were covered with oil.
I helped manage at a rescue centre with 4,500 oiled penguins in it, and also managed the care of 3,000 penguins at a second rescue centre.
Of those 20,000 oiled penguins, 91% were saved – but we could not have saved them without the help of
12,500 dedicated volunteers.
Why is oil dangerous to penguins?
OIL clumps up and separates their feathers so they’re no longer waterproof, and can’t keep the penguins warm and dry.
When oiled penguins start to preen (straighten out their feathers using their beaks) they accidentally swallow the oil, which is very toxic.
What can we do to help?
YOU can help penguins and other animals by taking care of the environment where you live.
Everything on Earth is connected, so what we do in our own back yards can make a difference for animals we may never even see.
You can also donate to a rehabilitation centre that rescues them. There’s a list on my website at thepenguinlady.com
Learn more with Dyan deNapoli’s book, All About Penguins (left), which is out now priced £11.45 (£5.36 Kindle)