Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of I Heart Radio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren vog Obam Here. Penguins are fascinating birds. There are up to twenty six different species in the wild. They all live in the Southern Hemisphere on four continents, Africa, South America, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica, typically places where the water is very cold, though there is an exception. The endangered Galapagos penguin lives in the Galapcos Archipelago, which
is right on the equator. Penguins can survive they're typically icy waters thanks to their feathers. But we spoke with Jen O'Dell, a curator of Mammals and Birds of the Georgia Aquarium and part of the team that cares for the aquarium's flock of African penguins as She explained that African penguins in particular having incredibly small feathers, and that there are lots of them, about eight thousand, two hundred
feathers per square inch. That number will vary according to the penguins species and size, but she said their feathers act like a barrier to the water they're swimming in. The feathers are important to their survival because they're swimming in really cold water. If they didn't have that barrier,
they wouldn't survive. In addition to the density of the feathers, penguins also use oil from a gland sometimes called a pren gland, located at the base of their tail to waterproof their feathers when they preen themselves with their beaks. In combination, these two features allow penguins to swim without the water ever actually touching their skin. This is especially important because penguins spend most of their lives in the water.
That's where they find their food. The only time they're on land is when they're molting or breeding and raising their young. But like other birds, they don't keep a single set of feathers forever. Every year, penguins go through what's called the catastrophic malt. Why catastrophic Imagine having to go through an annual life cycle where you double your weight, lose all the hair on your body, and then grow all new hair. That's what penguins do every year. Odell explained.
The catastrophic malt is a two and a half week process during which they lose all their feathers and grow new ones back. It's a natural thing they go through, but it is physiologically stressful. In advance of malting, they will come close to doubling their body weight because they won't swim or hunt that way. During the time when they're losing their feathers and growing them back, they've got
enough reserves to get them through. O'Dell says molting typically happens around the same season each year for African penguins, with some outliers. She said, you can probably find a molting penguin at any time of year, but the majority will molt with the rest of the flock. By the way, a group of penguins in the water is sometimes called a raft, while a group of penguins on land is sometimes called a wattle. Other collective nouns for penguins include rookery, colony,
and huddle. Penguins are social animals. Most penguins will breed monogamously for life and return to the same breeding place. However, O'Dell says that she and other researchers have seen mated pears split up and form new pairs for no discernible reason. African penguins typically lay two eggs that are incubated for about forty days. Males and females are both engaged in the incubating, tending and feeding the chicks after they hatch.
Most penguins do not balance the eggs on top of their feet while incubating, as seen in the movie March of the Penguins. That's something done primarily by Emperor penguins. Because of the brutal Antarctic cold. Other penguin species may build a burrow or scrape together nesting material rocks, mud sticks, or grasses where they lay their eggs. Penguins are also
receptive learners. Handlers at the Georgia Aquarium occasionally wanted their African penguins to take part in educational or interactive programs, but they weren't sure how well they would take instruction. It turns out the penguins are pretty smart cookies, Odell said. When we started incorporating a more formalized training program with them, they learned incredibly fast. Like most animals, they are responsive
to operating conditioning and positive reinforcement. The way they respond to people has a lot to do with their history, where they came from, their interaction here, and the training process. She said that like other animals, including many species of birds. Penguins can form strong attachments to specific trainers. With so many penguin species, the conservation status of any given type of penguin runs the gamut from of least concern to
vulnerable to endangered. On the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, African penguins are considered endangered. O'Dell said their numbers have decreased over the last a hundred years. There are only sixteen thousand breeding pairs left. There's speculation that this species of penguin be extinct within our lifetime, possibly in the next fifteen to twenty years
without significant changes. The problems are mostly man made. In addition to competing with humans for the same fish, their prey has also moved. Odell said the penguins have to swim farther to get food and by the time they get back to their chicks they've digested everything. They don't have anything to feed their young, but programs are in
place to help. Odell said. There are people from our team from Vet Services who support the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds to help with rescue, rehab and release of African penguins and other seabird species, and fund research projects to get the African penguin population growing in the right direction again. Today's episode was written by Pat E. Rasmussen and produced by Tyler Clay. For more on this in a huddle of other topics, visit
how stuffworks dot com brainsteps production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H