Name Date:

March of the Penguins : Video & Research Notes

1. What is the average temperature at the Antarctic? ______

2. What kind of penguins is this movie about? ______

3. How many miles/ kms will the penguins travel to their nesting site? ______

4. What 2 main parts of their body do penguins use to travel across land?______

5. What is the real reason penguins breed at this particular breeding place?______

6. How many different partners does a penguin mate with each year? ______

7. How many months do the penguins keep their partnership with their mate? ______

8. How do the mass of penguins keep each other warm? ______

9. What month is the one egg of each partner laid? ______

10. How is the egg kept warm from the harsh cold? ______

11. Which parent goes back to the sea first and why? ______

12. Why is the “transfer” of the egg between female and male so important?______

______

13. Who primarily protects the egg and for how long? ______

14. How much body weight has the female lost? ______

15. How many days do males go without food? ______

16. How cold goes it get and how fast can the wind be while the fathers are caring for the eggs?______

______

17. How long can penguins hold their breath and how deep can they dive? ______

18. What is the major predator of the penguins? ______

19. What month do the females return to the nest? ______

20. Why must the males keep moving? ______

21. After the chicks hatch, how long has it been since the males have eaten? ______

22. Upon return with food for their chick, how does the female find her mate in the mass of penguins?

______

23. How much body weight has the male lost? ______

24. Why are there fewer males than females? ______

25. When a female’s chick dies, what might she try to do? ______

26. What month do the mothers leave their chicks to go feed again? ______

27. When the father’s return from feeding, how do they find their chicks? ______

28. What month is the ocean within a few hundred yards of the breeding ground? ______

29. After how many months does the tribe of penguins (parents) return to the sea? ______

30. What month do the chicks go to the sea? ______

31. How many years will the chicks live at seas before they return to breed? ______


32. Research thermoregulation in penguins.

·  The internal temperature range of penguins is 37.8°C to 38.9°C

·  Penguins' survive in water that may be as cold as -2.2°C

·  Penguins survive on land and ice flows in temperatures as low as -40°C

The following sites are a start.

http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/science/cold_penguins.htm

http://seaworld.org/animal-info/animal-infobooks/penguin/adaptations/

http://ecoclass2010.wordpress.com/2010/10/18/thermoregulation-and-metabolic-energy-loss-of-the-emperor-penguin/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/ocr_gateway/understanding_environment/adaptationsrev4.shtml

http://www.penguinworld.com/features/thermoregulation.html

http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/facilities/multimedia/uploads/zoology/counter%20current.html

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-emperor-penguins-survive-antarcticas-subzero-cold-604370/?no-ist

Summarise the structural, physiological and behavioural adaptations of penguins which enable them to thermoregulate and survive in exceptionally cold conditions in table format.

Feature/ Behaviour / Description and how this assists Thermoregulation
Compact body
Sub cutaneous fat layer
Feathers -dark colouring
Feathers - ruffling
Feathers- overlapping, densly packed feathers
Feathers –water proofing
Sitting on feet
Standing on heels and stiff tail
Tucking flippers close to body
Heat exchange system in nasal passages
Heat exchange to flippers and legs
Huddling

33. Because Penguins are so well adapted to the cold they can also suffer from overheating when ambient temperatures increase. Outline some of the ways penguins reduce body temperature when necessary.