Diane has taught all subjects at the elementary level, was the principal of a K-8 private school and has a master's degree in Measurement and Evaluation.
Imagine exploring an area of land just above the Antarctic Circle! You are near the bottom of the Earth and are making some very interesting discoveries! Suddenly, you see a penguin, but it's not just any penguin! It's a Gentoo (pronounced JEN-too) penguin! A Gentoo penguin is the third largest type of penguin, has a yellowish-red beak, a black head with white marks above each eye, and a long tail.
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These birds live about 15-20 years in the wild and weigh around twelve pounds.
A Gentoo penguin's long tail swishes along behind it when it shuffles around on land, but is tilted up when it swims. Shuffling along on the ground isn't the only way they move around on land. They can also lay on their stomach and glide on the ice, which is called tobogganing. A toboggan is a sled used to slide over ice, which is exactly how Gentoo penguins use their stomach!
Though they are slow and clumsy on land, Gentoo penguins are graceful underwater! They have wings, like other birds, but these wings aren't built for flying. They are more like flippers and are built for swimming. In fact, the Gentoo penguin is the fastest swimmer of any diving bird, and can go as fast as 22 miles per hour! They are the racecars of the penguin family!
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Gentoo penguins live in groups, called colonies, are very social, energetic and like to inspect new things. They are also noisy and will honk to 'talk' to each other.
Gentoo penguins live on islands and a peninsula, which is a piece of land that has water on three sides, just above the Antarctic Circle. The Antarctic Circle is at the bottom of the Earth and includes the South Pole.
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These penguins build nests on the ground to protect their eggs. It is built in a circle and made out of anything available, which includes rocks, feathers, grass and sticks. The mother penguin lays a group of two or three eggs, called a clutch, and the mother and father penguin take turns keeping those eggs warm until they hatch.
Gentoo penguins are carnivores, so they only eat meat. Some of their favorite meals include fish, squid and shrimp-like creatures called krill. They hunt all day and usually stay close to the shoreline, but will sometimes swim as far as 16 miles when looking for food.
They lower their heart rate so they can stay underwater for as much as seven minutes at a time when hunting, and may dive for food as many as 450 times a day! They can even dive as deep as 655 feet for a snack. That's longer than six professional basketball courts!
When they are in the water, Gentoo penguins have to be careful that they don't end up being a snack for seals, sea lions and whales.
Gentoo penguins are birds that have a yellowish-red beak, a black head with white marks above the eyes, a long tail and are the third largest type of penguin. They are clumsy walking on land and sometimes glide on the ice on their stomach, which is called tobogganing. Gentoo penguins are the fastest swimming bird and are carnivores, only eating meat like fish, squid and krill.
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