The Penguin is found only in the Antarctic. All of the seventeen known penguin species are quite similar in appearance. They cannot fly at all. partly because their wing feathers are very short. Under water however, penguins zip along as rapidly as fish. All their swimming strokes are made with their wings. Their strong, webbed feet trail out behind and are used only for steering.
On shore these strange birds stand up straight even when they are just wadding around. Their long wings hang down at their sides. In their smooth black and white feather suits, they look very much like headwaters attending a convention.
The emperor penguin is the largest of all. It is nearly four feet tall and weighs ninety pounds or more when it is on the ice floes, it normally walks bolt upright. But if the emperor penguin really has to, it can travel nine miles an hour by lying on its breast and beating the ice wildly with its feet and wings.
The emperors mate lays her single big egg on the sea ice close to shore. She keeps the egg warm by placing it between her legs and on top of her feet. Then she squats down and covers it with a blanket of loose, densely feathered skin. If she has to move somewhere else, she takes the egg along. balancing it on top of her feet. Finally seven to eight weeks later, the young penguin hatches.