Other often asked questions are:
Why are there no penguins in the Northern Hemisphere?
Penguins evolved in the Southern Hemisphere taking advantage of the very rich fish stocks in the cold currents of the Southern Ocean. They need to have plentiful supplies of fish to survive and the conditions for large schools of fish and crustaceans only occur in cold waters. So although the conditions are suitable both in the Northern and Southern Polar regions, the penguins have never managed to cross into the cold Northern waters. Penguins can be found anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere where there are cold ocean currents. The most northerly penguins are found on the equator in the Galapagos Islands. The Humboldt Current carries cold Antarctic waters right up the coast of South America to the equator and provides sufficiently rich fishing grounds for the penguins. However, to cross the much warmer tropical waters to reach the cold northern waters which only extend down to Northern Europe, Russia and Canada, has proved to be too great a journey for the penguins. The Auks occupy a similar ecolological niche in these Northern waters.
First off, all species of penguin are protected so that you could only (legally) get a penguin from a Zoo that had bred it.
Secondly, you would need a constant and reliable supply of fresh frozen fish as well as appropriate vitamin supplements, you would also need to know a vet who was familiar with penguins and the many diseases they are prone to when kept in captivity.
Thirdly, you would need to be able to feed the birds every day so you couldn't take any more vacations! You can't just put a penguin into kennels!
Fourthly, you would need to build a suitable enclosure to keep the bird - remember different species have very different environmental requirements (temperature, vegetation etc.). For example, there are no species of penguin that could live outside year round in say Chicago with its wide temperature variations. Plus all species of penguins require access to a large, deep and clean pool of water - preferably salt water.
Fifthly, penguins tend to live in large colonies - anything less than say 20 birds would not be sufficient. So you would need a very healthy income. Zoo's here reckon it costs around 400 pounds (700 US$) per year just to keep a penguin in fish!
Finally, why would you want to keep penguins for yourself anyway? They are much better left in the wild or in well looked after breeding colonies in Zoos and Aquaria. Remember that nearly all species are endangered to some extent or another.
We would strongly discourage anyone from trying to keep a penguin as a pet - except the cuddly toy variety!
However, in the fossil records penguin bones have been found which suggest there were some now extinct penguins that may have been as tall as 2 metres!
The longest distances are walked by Emperors who come ashore at the beginning of winter to start breeding; at that time the rookeries may be a few kilometres from the open sea. The females leave the rookeries once the eggs have been laid by which time the sea has started to freeze so they have to walk maybe as much as 30 km to get back to the sea. The females then return about 9 weeks later when the eggs are hatching and relieve the males. The return journey for the females is again longer, up to 50 km, because more sea has frozen. The males, now exhausted and starving after incubating the eggs then waddle back over 60 km to the open sea. The maximum distances they sometimes have to walk can be well over 100km!
Why do penguins have white fronts and black backs?
The usual reason given is that it provides camouflage when the birds are in the water. The black backs mean that the penguins are difficult to see from above against the dark seas, while the white fronts make them hard to see from below against the light sky. Thus predators such as seals, sharks and Killer Whales will find it difficult to hunt penguins. Another explanation sometimes suggested is that the penguins can use their colouration as a form of thermal control. If they are cold they can stand with their black backs to the sun and so absorb heat, while if they are hot they can stand with their white fronts to the sun and reflect the sun's rays. This second explanation may be true in a few limited cases, but many species of penguin nest in the open and will always have their black backs upward, so that even on hot, sunny days, they will be absorbing heat. We have seen African penguins on nests becoming quite overheated because of a strong sun. These overly hot birds lie with their flippers extended to try to radiate some heat and also open their mouths and pant to try to lose some more heat that way.
Long ago the ancestor's of penguins were birds that could fly. However, they evolved to become superb divers, and in the process lost the power of flight. A flying bird has to minimise its weight. For example, all flying birds have hollow bones. In contrast, to be a successful diver a penguin wants to keep it's weight high, so they have solid bones. Penguins are excellent divers, they can dive to depths of 1000m and remain down for up to 20 minutes. While penguins cannot fly in the air, they do seem to fly through the water - if you ever get the chance to see penguins swimming in a large and deep pool you will never again say they can't fly!
All penguins use sounds to communicate. Chicks in large colonies need to be able to attract their own parents so that they can be fed, adults need to recognise one another when they come back from fishing trips, etc. Different species make different noises. African, Humboldt, Magellanic and Galapagos all make braying sounds (like a donkey) and each of these species has at some time been known as "Jackass" penguins as a result. Their chicks, in contrast, make a high pitched whistling noise to demand feeding. The Yellow-eyed penguin makes a trilling sound (not unlike the old "trim-phone"). The Chinstrap has a shrill, screaming voice, so loud that it is sometimes called the stone-cracker penguin. The King penguin makes a trumpeting sound.
How do penguins keep cool?
These are really one and the same question. All penguins swim
in cold waters and so need a good layer of insulation, some species come
ashore in hot places (Humboldt penguins nest in arid hot - ca. 40°C,
deserts on the West coast of South America) while others survive the lowest
temperatures of any animals (male Emperor penguins spend the Antarctic
winters incubating eggs in temperatures that can fall below -70°C).
The insulation is provided in layers, under the skin is a thick layer of
blubber, then there is a layer of downy feathers that trap air, and finally
another layer of waterproof feathers that keep the cold water away from
the skin. With all this insulation penguins have no problem keeping
warm at temperatures down to about -10°C - although they have special
adaptions of the circulatory system to keep their feet from freezing and
to prevent much heat loss through the feet that are on the ice. At
lower temperatures penguins have to huddle together to keep warm.
In such huddles the penguins gradually move from the hot interior to the
cold outside so that every penguin has his turn in the middle and on the
outside.
In hot climates, penguins suffer greatly from overheating. They use several strategies to lose heat. They puff up their feathers so that air can circulate to their skin; they hold their flippers out from their bodies and pump hot blood to them so that they can act as radiators to lose heat; they open their mouths and pant to lose heat from their hot breath; and those species that live in hot climates also have several bare patches of skin (around the eyes and feet), they send blood to these bare patches when they are hot - you can recognise a hot penguin since it will have pink eye patches and pink patches on its feet.