![]() This article deals with the characteristics of penguins and puffins, and then presents a comparison between them to understand the two animals better. Their natural distribution, ecology, and physical features would draw some interest for the reader. However, those distinctions would be fascinating for anyone to be aware. Puffins for more about these amazing birds! Watch a YouTube playlist all about penguins.Penguin and puffin are two distinct types of birds exhibiting many differences between them. Their modified wings help propel them through water instead of air. They're powerful and graceful in the water, with torpedo-shaped bodies that pierce through the water. Like other penguin species, Adélies are excellent swimmers. They plunge into the sea, and start hunting for food on their own. By March, when Adélie chicks are about nine weeks old, their downy baby feathers have been replaced by waterproof adult feathers. These groups of young Adélies are called crèches. At that point, both parents may leave to forage for food while the chicks gather in the safety of a large group of other young penguins. Parents take turns caring for their youngsters after they hatch until the chicks are about three weeks old. They feast mainly on krill, tiny shrimplike animals, but also eat fish and squid. While one stays behind keeping the eggs warm and safe from predators, the other parent heads out to sea to eat. In the Antarctic winter, the Adélie penguins live at sea. The female usually lays two eggs in the nest. Adélie penguins build nests by scooping out areas in the ground. In September and October-springtime in that part of the world-thousands of Adélies gather on the rocky Antarctic shoreline. Puffins for more about these amazing birds!Īdélie penguins breed and raise their young on the continent of Antarctica. By the time the puffling leaves its burrow, each parent will have dove 12,420 times. The puffling swallows the fish head first and whole. In one day a parent may dive 276 times, bringing back 10 fish each time. A puffling eats so much food that both the mother and father have to supply it with fish. They won’t return until it is their turn to lay eggs. Born on North Atlantic islands, pufflings leave their burrows after 45 days. As it gets older, it will grow sturdy and smooth feathers to help it swim and fly. When it first hatches, it looks like a furry ball of feathers. A baby puffin is known as a chick or puffling. They line the burrow with feathers and grass before laying the egg that will incubate for 42 days. Using their beaks and claws, puffins build their burrows between two boulders or in a rocky crevice. The pair often uses the same burrow they used the year before. They show affection by rubbing and tapping beaks. At the ages of 4-6, pairs of puffins often become mates for life, finding each other at their breeding colony year after year. They stay in colonies to limit their chances of being eaten by the herring gulls that fly overhead. In the spring and summer, thousands of puffins gather in colonies on the coasts and islands of the North Atlantic Ocean. As a puffin matures, its beak and feet change from a dull gray color to bright orange. They flap their wings up to 400 times a minute, speeding along in the air at 55 miles an hour-as fast as a car on a highway (How many times can you flap your arms in one minute?) . Well adapted for their home in the water, puffins are also speedy in the air. They generally stay underwater for 30 seconds or less, but are able to dive 200 feet deep and stay down for up to a minute. Puffins eat small fish-such as sand eels and herring-which they hunt underwater. As they swim, they use their webbed feet to steer, much as a boat uses a rudder. ![]() They fly through the air like most birds, but they also "fly" through the water, using their wings as paddles. Atlantic puffins are birds that live at sea most of their lives.
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