I’ve gone too far to give up on them now. I mustn’t give up now. I mustn’t quit on this wonderful passion, dream and journey that lies ahead of me. My passion for penguins first began back in 1997 when I first saw the cartoon movie, ‘The Pebble and the пингвин (1995)’. Right before I saw that cartoon movie, there was a commercial или an ad of the Sea world penguins that a lady was introducing to us and the real penguins on the tv screen (the Macaroni, the Adelies, the Gentoos, the Chinstraps and the Emperors) scared me a bit because I didn’t know what creatures they were. Then in 2005 when I was only 12 years and 11 months old, I went with my mom to see a wonderful documentary on the migration of the Emperor Penguins. I was just downright shocked and amazed about these wonderful, beautiful creatures again. I was immediately drawn by them, again like I was back in 1997. I began doing research on penguins after I saw ‘March of the Penguins’. I learned several things these past six years. I was really amazed to find out that penguins are intelligent but they aren’t the smartest of all birds and they have a mammal-like behavior. I was really amazed that penguins act a lot like cats. They are independent, agile, and clean and have a mind of their own. They are also really playful and friendly towards the people working with them. I also heard that they can be pretty aggressive или territorial birds, especially the males. еще aggressive than most birds even. They are very territorial. They have a wide range of territories. They are great at mating. When mating, the female must lay down in the prone position with flippers out to the side and head raised. Then the male must gently climb on the female’s back and position himself by walking backwards so that his cloaca touches her’s. Their cloacae touch in a process known as the ‘Cloaca Kiss’ (no penetration is required which makes me happy). I also learned that they mate for fun all the time. They are known to mate for pleasure. They are also known to actually rape each other a lot. Sometimes, if not often, groups of young, inexperienced unpaired males are actually known forcibly mate with younger unwilling and injured females. Why these males do this is no one will ever know. They mate for strong pair bonding also. They are also prone to doing prostitution, where a female пингвин gives the male пингвин a pebble, a stick или some other nest material and lets him mate with her, then after mating, the female takes away the pebble, the stick или some other nest material. I’ve also learned that some parent penguins have been known to physically abuse или sexually abuse their chicks. I learned that they are not always loving and cuddly. They have cantankerous personalities and they have their good days and their bad. Every little thing sets them off. There are 17 species of penguins, and 12 species are the warm weathered species. There are only 5 cold weathered species. They are very strong and powerful little birds. They eat way еще than their own body weight each day. Their body temperature is 102 degrees high, and they can digest every part of the fish, but the рыба Кости pass through the penguin's poop. They poop every 15 minutes. Really small пингвин chicks must be fed every 20 minutes, или they die from starvation. Penguins invent their own games to play, and they enjoy playing. If they feel like doing something that’s on their mind, they’ll immediately do it! They come to Ты when Ты call their names…. Sometimes. But if they don’t feel like coming to Ты then they’ll turn their back at Ты and swim или walk away as if Ты weren’t there. If they fall или trip или get hurt, they get back up again and go back to their routine as if nothing happened. They are very loving to their mates and often preen each other to strengthen their bonds. Penguins in general are very monogamous and mate for life. The African пингвин is the most monogamous of the пингвин species. Penguins really like contrasting Цвета but their vision and Цвета they see in is very different than what the way we humans see in Penguins can’t really look вперед with both eyes too much или usually. Even though penguins have binocular vision, they can’t see in binocular vision very well (because they have a wide beak and mouth placed in front of their face), which is why Ты often see them moving their heads from left to right and bringing their heads down, on one side, near their chest. But sometimes on land, they will tilt their heads to the side, while looking up and down. Penguins usually don’t face what they’re looking at because of where their eyes are placed on their heads. Having an eye on either side of their head allows them to see all around them. Penguins are nearsighted on land, which means they can’t see far way. They can even see in Ultraviolet light. Although penguins see in full color, they mainly see best in sea--green, blue-green, and фиолетовый wavelengths. Because they mainly see in sea--green, blue-green, and фиолетовый wavelengths, their eyes are adapted for an underwater environment where the watercolor is sea--green, blue-green, and фиолетовый in color. They are unable to see in the red spectrum. They are aided with a type of sonar called пингвин echolocation when they enter deep dark water to find their hidden prey. It’s a type of hearing called echolocation and they send out short, low-pitched “whoops” at nearby objects или рыба to stun their prey. They are counter shaded which means, when seen from below, the penguins white front blends in with the bright white sky and the surface of the water and when viewed from above, the penguins black back is invisible with the dark ocean depths. All пингвин species are only found in the southern hemisphere and the most northern пингвин lives at the вверх of the equator, the Galapagos penguin. The bigger the пингвин the longer it lives and the smaller the пингвин the shorter it lives. They swim 5 times faster than the bestest human swimmer. Their head and neck colorings are their basic characteristics. Their beaks are different sizes too. Usually, the longer the beak, the еще рыба penguins eat. While the smaller the beak, the еще krill they eat. Their hearing is thought to be really good. Even though the penguin’s feet are cold blooded, their feet never freeze when they are walking on ice. In the age of penguins, it is usually the females that die the youngest. Males tend to live much longer than females. Their brain works much like computers. It can give the пингвин deep detailed info on an object that the пингвин is staring at. They have a great sense of smell and can smell sea water and their prey of up to 5 miles away. Once they Любовь you, they’ll never leave your side или abandon you. They’ll always Любовь you. For a small bird, they can be extremely loud. They are very noisy and squawk a lot but they are mostly quiet the majority of the time. Their beaks are always growing throughout their entire lives because they are made of keratin. Penguins are always fun to be around because they put a smile on your face. They are such little forces of joy. They have big attitudes for such a small bird. They really are amazing creatures with incredibly kind and gentle hearts.