Can anyone truly resist a man in uniform LOL !

Penguins are just irrisistable and adorable, aren't they?

Did you know there are 17 varieties of them? .... Amazing!

What do I love about them other than the way they look?

Well, the females are strong and resourcesful, and the males make wonderful daddy's ;-) They love their families.

Here you can learn a little bit about each of them.

Remember, when you see a "penguins crossing" sign, drive very, very sloooowly!!!

They have a thick layer of down under the outer feathers and a layer of blubber. The layer feathers trap air that keeps the body heat in and cold air and water out. They also have large amounts of body oil that helps keep them dry in the water.

They live on the Antarctic continent where the temperature can drop to -140 and they breed at the beginning of winter; Emperors can mate when they turn 4 years old and can live up to 20 years. They have estimated there to be about 200,000 breeding pairs.

The female lays one large egg which she rolls on top of her male partner's feet. He keeps it warm with a thick fold of skin that hangs from his stomach.

The males all group together in a big mass to keep each other warm while the female goes out to sea to feed. This time can last up to 9 weeks.

When the egg hatches, the female returns to care for ito the male can set out to sea to feed. By this time he may have lost half his body weight which he needs to restore.

The mother feeds the baby by feeding it food from her stomach, the father then returns after a few weeks and they care for the baby together.

After about 7 weeks all the baby chicks form groups called "crèches" where they can all huddle together for warmth and protection.

In 6 months the chicks are fully grown.

Emperor penguins have short wings which help them to dive fast under water, they can dive up to 900 feet and they are fast swimmers. Their main enemy is the leopard seal.

The King penguin lives on islands far to the north of the Antarctic continent where the Emperor penguin lives.

The King penguin has orange ear patches that are a closed tear-drop shape; while the Emperor penguin has a yellow open ear patch shape.

Adults are 90 cm tall and weigh about 15-16 kg. They are found on many sub-Antarctic islands including Crozet, Prince Edward , Kerguelen, South Georgia and Mazquarie Islands.

Total population is estimated to be 1 million breeding pairs. The male king penguin incubates the egg much as male Emperor penguins, but the King penguins do this during the warmer summer season, when food is more available. Once the egg is laid, the male will care for it. The female goes to the open sea and will return in about 21 days to take her turn keeping the egg warm.

The male will only go about 1 month without food. The chick hatches in about 54 days. The chick is cared for by both parents for 30 to 40 days. At this time it joins a crèche for warmth and protection from predators.

In the spring the parents come back and start feeding the chick again. At this time, the chicks starts to grow its adult feathers and is ready to go off on its own. Raising a King penguin chick usually takes 10 to 13 months. This allows the adults to raise only 1 chick every other year.

King penguins mainly eat fish with small amounts of squid and crustaceans. Early explorers of the region thought the brown chicks were another species of penguins. They called them the "woolly penguin".

~STIFF-TAILED PENGUINS~

Adelie penguins were named after the wife of a French explorer in the 1830s. These penguins nest and breed on the rocky, ice-free beaches in large colonies of ten thousands of birds. There are over 2.5 million breeding pairs living in the Antarctica region.

These penguins are one of the stiff-tailed penguins with long tail feathers that drags the ground when they walk. They have a white belly with a black head and back. They have a white ring around the eye. Feathers cover most of the short beak.

They are powerful swimmers and can jump straight out of the water onto the land. They often move on the land by sledding down hills on their bellies. Adelies build their nests of pebbles on the rocky beaches of Antarctica. After bonding and mating, the female lays 2 eggs in the nest.

The male then takes over the job of keeping the egg warm by holding it on the tops of his feet or laying on the egg in the nest. The female goes to feed and returns in three weeks to help with the chicks. When parents return with food for the chicks it will run from the chicks making the chicks chase and catch them for the food.

Often only one chick will survive. Their chicks grow the fastest of all penguins. Adelie penguins have to defend their nests from other penguins who try to steal pebbles, stones, and other nest building materials. They don't drink water but eat snow.

They have a gland in their nose that takes the salt out of the ocean water that they swallow when catching fish and eating fish while in the water. The parents return to sea to feed. They take turns bringing food to the chick every other day. The chicks grow quickly during the warm summer weather.

When autumn and winter comes the parents go back to sea to feed. The chicks have grown a warm brown fussy down of feathers. They have also grown a thick layer of blubber to keep them warm during the winter months ahead.

The chicks huddle in their crèches during the winter months while the parents occasionally come onshore to feed them.

~CRESTED PENGUINS~

Like all the crested penguins the Fiordland Penguins have a long droopy crest of bright yellow feathers starting at the bill and extending back behind the eyes. They are very much like the Snares Penguins with the only difference being the white streaks of feathers on the cheeks of the Fiordland penguins. They are also known as the "Fiordland crested penguins" and the "thick-billed penguins". They are shy and timid and live and breed on the rugged west and southwest coastlands of the South Island of New Zealand, including two offshore islands of Stewart and Solander. The breeding and brooding habits of this penguin have been difficult to study because it lives in the temperate rainforest. The nesting areas are difficult to see because of the thick vegetation where the nests are located. The total population has been estimated to be fewer than 1,000 breeding pairs. Fiordland penguins make their nest in the soft ground in the thick undergrowth of plants well apart from other birds' nests. Usually two eggs are laid but only one chick survives. The egg is kept warm for 30 to 36 days with the male and the female taking turns on the nest in long 5 to 12 day shifts. After the eggs hatch the male stays with the chick for 2 to 3 weeks while the female brings food. Chicks are left alone to hide in the underbrush or they may form small crèches while both parents hunt food. Chicks get their adult feathers and go to sea in about 75 days.

~WARM WEATHER PENGUINS~

This is the smallest of the warm weather penguins. It stands only 16 to 18 inches (40 to 45 cm) tall and weighs only 5 pounds (2 to 2.5 kg). Galapagos penguins have a thin white band that runs under their chin. They have a black upside down horseshoe shape around their belly. The Galapagos may look like the Magellanic but it is smaller and the black markings on the belly are thinner. They are found on the Galapagos Islands and on Isabela Island just north of the Equator. They are the penguins that live the farthest north. These penguins use burrows and two eggs are laid. They only mate and breed when there is plenty of food. Often only one chick is raised. Both parents tend the eggs for 38 to 40 days. Chicks are cared for by both male and female. The chick is guarded for about 30 days after hatching. The chicks molts, get their adult feathers, and are on their own in about 60 to 65 days. One of the main problems for this penguin is keeping cool. Living close to the equator it gets over 100 degrees F (38 degrees Celsius) during the daytime. They keep cool by swimming and hunting for food in the cold water of the Cromwell Current during the day. During the cool nights they sleep and nest on the land. They hold their flippers out to help the heat escape their bodies. They protect their feet from getting sunburned by holding their flippers over their feet when on land. Galapagos penguins eat mostly small fish such as mullet and sardines. They are dependent on the ocean currents to bring fish to their feeding grounds. Server weather from El Nino caused a severe shortage of food about 20 years ago. At that time over 70% of the Galapagos penguins died. Since then their numbers have increased but many scientist believe this species to be endangered. It is reported that there are about 800 breeding pairs left in the world.

~OTHER PENGUINS~

The yellow-eyed penguin is the third largest penguin behind the Emperor, the largest, and the king penguin being the second largest. It stands 22 to 31 (56 to 79 c,) tall and weight from 10 to 13 pounds (4.5 to 6 kilograms). The birds gets its name from the yellow-orange cat-like eyes. They also have a band of yellow feathers going from the bill and circling the eyes and head.This penguin lives and breeds on the forested coastline of New Zealand and the sub-Antarctic Islands to the south of New Zealand. The male and female work together to build their nest away from the other penguins in the forest or thick grasses. The nest is a shallow bowl shape in the ground and it carefully lined with grass, leaves, and twigs. Two eggs are laid and often both chicks survive. The eggs take 39 to 51 days to hatch with both parents sharing the task of keep the eggs safe and warm. Once hatched the chicks are cared for by both parents for 40 days, with the other parent collecting food in the ocean. Chicks stay with the parents and do not from "crèches" (groups of young chicks). After 106 days the chicks have their adult feathers and they go to sea.In the last 50 years many of the trees in the forest area have been cut down on the New Zealand coast. This has reduced their habitat and has forced them into nesting in tall grasses. There have been many new predators introduced into their environment, cats, dogs, and ferrets. This has caused a decrease in the total population. It is estimated that there are 1,500 breeding pairs left in the world. The yellow-eyed is the rarest of all the penguins.

Little Penguins are the smallest of all the penguins standing only 16 to 17 inches tall (41 to 44 cm) and weighing only about 2 lbs. (1 kilogram). They are sometimes called the "Little Blue penguin", "Fairy penguin", and "Blue penguin". It is called "blue" because of the indigo-blue and slate-gray color of the feathers. There are two sub-species recognized: the Little, or Fairy penguin and the White-flippered penguin. The Little penguins prefer the warm waters off southern Australia and New Zealand. They hunt small fish and squid in the shallow waters close to the shore during the day. At night they come onshore after dark to sleep and return to the waters before dawn each morning. Since they feed in the shallow waters close to shore they are easy to see from land. Little penguins use rock crevices or caves for their nests. Where these are not available they dig a long burrow to use.