Early Antarctic explorers actually thought penguins were fish and classified them accordingly. In fact a penguin is a water bird that can't fly. They use their flippers for swimming like other birds use their wings for flying. Penguins move over land by walking, jumping and sliding. They may appear awkward, but penguins actually walk about as fast as people.

They also dive much deeper than any other bird. Penguins are able to stay underwater with the help of their bones which are solid and heavy. Some species are able to reach nearly 275 meters below the surface and can hold their breath for up to 20 minutes. The unique feature of the pole is its amazing coldness and that it is always covered with snow and ice.

Now, think about how cold you feel when you go out to play snowballs in the winter wearing a coat, a cap and a pair of gloves. The penguins live in a place where the temperature falls to -40 C. Moreover, the penguins don't have any coats, sweaters or gloves, and they live in a place that is a lot colder than ours. They walk and sleep on ice but they don't even become sick.. If you were to lie down on ice for even a few minutes, you would become seriously sick. Nothing happens to the penguins. Why?

It is because penguins are created in such a way that they can live in such a freezing environment. Penguins stay warm with the help of a thick layer of blubber and a waterproof body covering. The layer of fat prevents them from feeling the cold, and acts as a fur. Penguins have more feathers than most other birds, with about 70 feathers per square inch. Penguins rub oil from a gland onto their feathers to help make them waterproof and windproof.

Penguins don't live near freshwater. Instead they drink salt water. They have a special gland in their bodies that takes the salt out of the water they drink and pushes it out of grooves in their bill. About 75% of a penguins life is spent in water, where they do all their hunting. Penguins can swim up to hundreds of miles in search of food and hunt for fish, squid or shrimp.

They have large round eyes that help them to see in the dark water. Penguins are "counter shaded" that is, they are darkly colored on their backs and white on their bellies. Penguins can camouflage themselves very well because of the counter shading. As they swim through the water, predators looking up from below are unable to see their white bellies against the light surface of the water, the predators above also have trouble seeing their black backs against the darkness of the deep water.

The penguin displays great devotion towards its eggs and babies. Penguins incubate their eggs during the coldest weather. Unlike other creatures, it is not the female penguin that incubates the eggs but the male. The female penguin lays only one egg and then leaves it to the male. She leaves for distant places to find food for her husband and baby. The male penguin incubates the egg for exactly four months. The penguin carries the egg in between his feet and during these four months, he never once leaves it on the ground. If he were to do so, the egg would freeze and die within a matter of minutes.

When the weather becomes unbearably cold, all the male penguins get together even if they are carrying eggs between their feet. They come close to each other, forming a circle, and in this way, they warm each other up. They continuously switch positions so that the ones left outside the circle can also become warm.

Just as the egg is about to hatch, the mother penguin returns from hunting. She feeds her baby with the food that she has stored in her throat. To prevent the baby from freezing, the mother and father penguins carry it in between their feet and keep it warm with the fur of their abdomen.

Because they are so dedicated, they take wonderful care of their offspring. This feature has been given to the penguins millions of years ago. The penguins that have lived before and the ones that are living now have not changed a bit when it comes to the devotion that they display. If not, their generation would not survived up to today.