In honor of Penguin Awareness Day, we’re featuring the big daddy of the penguin world–the emperor penguin. At about 4 feet tall and weighing up to 100 pounds, it’s both the tallest and heaviest penguin species. The emperor is found only in Antarctica, where it endures wind chills colder than -75 degrees F and blizzard winds of more than 120 mph. It survives these harsh weather conditions by storing lots of fat underneath four layers of feathers. But the emperor penguin truly rules underwater, where it spends roughly half of its life. Studies show that an emperor can dive more than 1,700 feet below the surface, holding its breath more than 15 minutes at a time. It goes to such great depths in search of food, often for its babies back on shore.
It’s Penguin Awareness Day
More Desktop Wallpapers:
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Travels to the Oregon deep
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New Year’s Day in the land of the rising sun
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Desert rose of Qatar
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Tree of many colors
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Birds of the Drömling
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A truly American monument
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Eastern grey kangaroos in Australia’s Kosciuszko National Park
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What’s blooming in New Zealand?
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Merry and bright
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Bidding summer adieu
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Storm rolls over the grasslands
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Have fun storming the castle
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Crimson-rumped toucanet in the Refugio Paz de Las Aves, Ecuador
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The Big Blue of the Sierra
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In the Most Serene Republic
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The ‘Night of Nights’
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Dark skies over New Mexico
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It’s Canada’s national day
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Celebrating Native American Heritage Month
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Today is World Refugee Day