Hello, Penguin!

The facts behind the pictures

Penguins are birds. Use the opening picture to find the face and beak before turning the page.

Penguins cannot fly through the air. Their wings move them through water. The question leads into the swimming pages.

Penguin parents pass body heat to the egg through a warm patch of skin. Kinds of penguins care for eggs in different ways: not every parent sits on a nest, and not every penguin balances its egg on its feet.

Some penguins gather close for warmth. Keep the word some when reading: not every kind makes these tight groups.

A chick grows inside an egg. To hatch, it makes a small hole in the shell, then chips away until it can come out. The chick in this picture has already hatched.

Parents catch food at sea and bring it back to their chicks. Chicks receive food from an adult's bill.

The wings are shaped for swimming and are also called flippers. Their strokes push the penguin through water.

Penguins find food underwater. Dives differ with the kind of penguin, the prey and the conditions; this page does not describe a record dive.

Penguins breathe in before a dive, hold their breath underwater and come back to the surface for air. They cannot take air from water as a fish does with gills.

The webbed feet help a swimming penguin steer. The wings provide the push; the feet do not do all the work.

Dark backs and light fronts are the usual adult pattern. Chicks and kinds of penguins differ. Some adults also have colored patches.

Adult feathers overlap and help keep water away from the skin. This protection depends on the feathers being in good condition.

On another reading, find an egg and then a chick. Penguin chicks begin life inside eggs.