The emperor penguin is a kingdom of animalia which belongs to the class aves. The binomial name of the emperor penguin is aptenodytes forsteri because its species are forsteri and family is spheniscidae. The interesting emperor penguin facts are the heaviest and tallest animals of all living penguin species in the world. This penguin endemic to Antarctica but there is a similarity in male and female because of its size and plumage. The emperor penguin is reaching maximum up to 122 cm and 48 in height and its weighing ranges from 22 to 45 kg. The color of this penguin is black at dorsal side and head and then sharply delineated from bright yellow ear patches, white belly and pale yellow breast.
As like other penguins, this species is flightless which has a streamlined body, stiffened wings and it is flattened into flippers in a marine habitat. Usually, this kind of penguin takes diet on fish, crustaceans like krill, squid and cephalopods. During hunting, this species can stay submerged up to 18 minutes and also diving up to 535 m deep, i.e. 1, 755 feet. However, the emperor penguin has many adaptations that include ability to minimize its metabolism, solid bones to reduce the barotraumas; even it allows operating at low oxygen levels and shutting down the non-essential organ functions. It is the only penguin in the species that breeds during the Antarctic Winter and has an ability to trek from 50 to 120km long over the ice.
Habitat and behavior of emperor penguin
The female emperor penguin lays a single egg, which is hatched by the male penguin when the female return back to the sea to feed, then both male and female penguin is caring for their chick. The total lifespan of the species is 20 years in the wild, but some penguins may live up to 50 years. Actually, the emperor penguin is a social animal in which the group of penguins is hunting together by coordinating their diving and surfacing. These penguins may be active in the day or night and it travels in most of the locations like nesting areas, ocean foraging areas and often dispersed into the oceans from January to March.
Important facts about emperor penguin
One of the exciting emperor penguin facts is really beautiful birds which have a black head, wings, back and tail and a white stomach. Its body has yellow gold markings on the both sides of their neck and head. Among the different kinds of penguins, the emperor penguins are the largest and tallest penguins that measure the height of 115 cm tall. Most of these penguins are spending their lives almost in Antarctica, where the temperature can be dropped up to -60 degree Celsius. It is mostly likes to survey in such low temperatures but it becomes a brilliant bird among all others. It has a large space of insulating body fat with many layers of scale-like feathers. These feathers help them to protect from icy winds and keep themselves warm.