Inglés para adolescentes: 10 amazing facts about penguins

¿Quieres conocer más acerca de los pingüinos? Estos simpáticos animales son aves, aunque no voladoras, que viven principalmente en el hemisferio sur. 

Te invitamos a leer 10 amazing facts about penguins elaborado por la redacción de la revista para aprender inglés I Love English en su número de abril 2021 (número 332)

Los estudiantes de Secundaria conocerán datos muy interesantes y sorprendentes sobre la vida y costumbres de los pingüinos. Además, aprenderán nuevo vocabulario y practicarán la lectura en inglés.

10 amazing facts about penguins (10 hechos increíbles sobre los pingüinos)

1. Penguins are only found in the wild in the southern hemisphere. So if you see a penguin and a polar bear together, one of them is completely lost! You can find them in Antarctica, the Galapagos Islands, Australia, South America and Southern Africa.
 
2. There are 17 species of penguin in total. Some of them have different names, which leads people to think that there are more.
 
3. The largest species of penguin is called Emperor. Emperor penguins can stand over 120 cm tall and weigh up to 40 kg. Also, they are the only penguin to nest in the Antarctic. Around half of the 50 penguin Emperor colonies have never been visited by humans.
 
4. Female Emperor penguins lay one egg, which is then incubated by the male while she goes off hunting. The female is away for around 9 weeks! In order to keep the egg warm, the male balances it on its feet for 65-75 days with a special pouch.
 
5. The sailors of Ferdinand Magellan's first circumnavigation of the globe in 1520 described penguins as "black strange geese that do not fly and feed on fish". About 23 years earlier, Vasco da Gama had described them as "flightless birds as large as ducks". Neither of them had seen a penguin before then.
 
6. Penguins can drink salty sea water. The salt is filtered from their blood by a supraorbital gland located near their eyes and then secreted by their nasal passages.
 
7. The Gentoo penguin can swim underwater up to 36 km/h! This penguin species is easily recognized by the wide white stripe across the top of its head and its bright orange-red bill. It also has a fairly long tail ? the most prominent tail of all penguin species.
 
8. Dirk is a penguin from Australia that made the news in 2012 because he had to be rescued after being stolen from an aquarium by British backpackers. The backpackers dumped him in shark-infested waters where Dirk would have had few probabilities of surviving unless picked up by a rescue ship!
 
9. Everybody loves Pingu, the famous plasticine penguin created by Swiss animator Otmar Gutmann. Adored for 30 years, Pingu has achieved worldwide recognition with its unique "Penguinese" language. Pingu is best friends with Robby the Seal. But Robby and Pingu did not at first get along!
 
10. Oliver Jeffers wrote a popular children's book about a penguin who finds himself on the wrong side of the world. The book was called Lost and Found, and it was adapted into an animation and theatre production aimed at young children. As the title invites us to guess, the story has a happy ending!