Emperor Penguin Research Paper

The Emperor penguins have adapted the cold winds and water with the way their build and their feathers. The feathers on the Emperor penguin aren't like normal bird feathers, they are short and there are 4 layers of scale-like feathers that protect them from the wind and sea as a waterproof coat, limiting the surface area for heat loss with an under layer of softer feathers called woolly down. When there are cold winds the penguins can puff out their feathers trapping some air that they warm up keeping them more insulated. When being in a harsh environment such as the Antarctic animals need to be warm-blooded to be operational, the emperor penguin has a layer of fat under their feathers. A penguin can have nearly a third of its body weight as fat this …show more content…
The black feathers the Emperor penguin has on its back is able to absorb any heat they can get from the sun. The emperor penguin is very large, they are twice the weight as the next biggest penguin the king. This means they are able to survive the winter and the cold extremity's it holds. The larger the animal the smaller the surface area: volume ratio and less relative area there is to lose heat. But due to their size, they are actually very specialized bird skeleton to have a highly upright gait, short legs and long body. This helps because there is hardly any areas which can lose heat. However, another adaption that is called Rate Mirabel is when there is heat exchange between the blood flow. When the warm blood passes the colder blood on the outside area of the penguin it is then warmed up at the same time as it cools down the blood passing it. This is good because if the cold blood was to enter the rest of the body it would affect the core body temperature making the penguin cool down. Making it a risk of being in such cold extremities. This basically means they are able to recycle their own body heat this way not having to burn their body

Show More