But you know what? In fact, there is another kind of penguin in the tropical northern hemisphere! The penguin we are going to talk about today is another kind of penguin: Galapagos penguin.
Galapagos penguin Galapagos penguin (scientific name: Spheniscusmendiculus), also known as Galapagos penguin or Cologne penguin. It belongs to ornithopoda, ornithopoda, Penguinidae and Penguin, and is the smallest of 6 genera 18 species of penguins in the world.
They are less than 50 centimeters tall and weigh less than 2.5 kilograms. They are close relatives and are common in zoos and Humboldt penguins.
Galapagos penguins have a black head and back, a white belly and some black spots on it. There is a circle of white lines on the black face and a black line on the white belly. There is light yellow under the wings. Feathers of flippers extend from the white chin. Hairless skin is pink with some black spots. Like a cute comedian.
It is this childish little thing that subverts many of our perceptions.
Everyone thinks that all penguins live in the South Pole. But this view is wrong. Penguins are indeed the birds that are least afraid of cold, and the subcutaneous fat with a thickness of three centimeters can perfectly resist the cold. At present, only two genera and five species of penguins live in the Antarctic continent. They are emperor penguins, king penguins, Adelie penguins, Papua penguins and penguins in hats.
The other four genera and thirteen species of penguins actually live in temperate zones. These penguins of Ring Penguin ignore the fact that they live in Africa and South America, which sounds like tropics.
So what is the reason for this strange phenomenon?
It's simple. It's food.
In order to find food, tropical penguins will migrate to places where fish is the staple food and there are many fish, so they will go, so there are basically penguins in the famous Nanniao fishing ground. The Galapagos Islands, with superior natural conditions, are close neighbors at the intersection of the Peruvian cold current and the equatorial warm current.
As the most important ocean upwelling system in the world, the Peruvian cold current supports countless marine life. The confluence of cold and warm seawater makes the seawater yellow, and nutrients such as nitrate and phosphate accumulate in large quantities, which promotes the proliferation of plankton and provides rich bait for fish. Therefore, there are a large number of cold-water fish in the islands, the most famous of which is anchovy, a kind of fish we often eat. The global catch accounts for 18%-20% every year, and the catch of Peru accounts for a large part of the global catch.
So, what's the point of heating in order to fill your stomach?
As mentioned above, penguins are cold-tolerant, but the average annual temperature in Galapagos Islands is above 25℃, and the highest temperature can reach 40℃, so it is difficult for penguins living here to keep cool.
But the method is always more difficult, and nothing can beat the brave rice man!
They spend most of the day looking for food in the water and taking a bath while eating. When they have to go ashore, they will cover their lower bodies with wings, bow their bodies and shrink their feet to minimize the area of sunlight. Occasionally flap your wings to promote air convection and heat dissipation. Especially in hot weather, they will radiate body heat through shortness of breath like dogs. But the poor penguin has no sweat glands, so even if these measures are used at the same time, the cooling effect is still limited.
Dinner is a challenging thing for both humans and penguins. The strong cold current in Peru not only brought food, but also brought climate change and danger.
The famous El Nino and La Nina are also the products of Peru's cold current. Among them, the very serious El Ni? o phenomenon led to a sharp rise in seawater temperature near the island and a sharp decrease in the number of fish in the water. More than 70% Galapagos penguins die from lack of food and calories, and many eggs and chickens die from lack of care. Their number exceeded 5,000 at the peak, but never recovered to more than 2,000 after the disaster.
The endangered Galapagos penguins have poor reproductive ability. They lay eggs twice a year and hatch for about 40 days. This important work is done by the parents of penguins, and the chicks are also raised by their parents. After three or four months, the chicks can shed their hair and basically live independently. It takes three to four years for chicks to mature and start their next life cycle.
In addition to the threat of climate change, human activities and the invasion of alien species have also seriously affected the survival of local organisms.
Goats and red imported fire ants have flooded the island and destroyed the vegetation on the island. Cats and mice run around, preying on birds and stealing birds' eggs, which adds a strong dark color to penguins' hard life.
However, these two years have been good news for Galapagos penguins. The number of tourists decreased and enjoyed a rare long vacation, and the number recovered to about 1.500. This is also a rare and gratifying thing in the predicament.