How Do Penguins Hunt Their Food
Animals have to survive in the environment. Every animal has their unique methods of hunting food. For instance, frogs use their long tongue and lions catch prey with their paws. Marine animals often have special methods to hunt for food in a dark environment. Penguins inhabit freezing places such as Antarctica and Chile, where their southern place is close to Antarctica. When it comes to the techniques the penguins hunt for food, you may be interested in the following process.
First, penguins swim into the ocean. Penguins will dive into different depths of water according to their species. In the penguin’s family, there are several different species such as king penguin and emperor penguin. For instance, king penguins search for food 15km to 900km under the sea level, while emperor penguins will cover the wider range to 1464km. Penguins in the higher level have stronger abilities, so they are expected and assigned to get food in the deeper ocean. For little penguins who cannot dive into the water, they will consume food from their parents’ mouths. Only adult penguins need to dive into the ocean.
Next, they look for their prey. Every level of penguin act in groups, which is called group foraging. Instead of acting individually, catching fish in groups have better benefit. They lock their targets through “bait balls” on the fish and squids’ backs, capturing them in large quantities at once. Penguins will stay in the water for two months to prepare for the fasting time. The fasting usually happened during the time of breeding, for two to four months approximately. Before this period, penguins will intake a great amount of food to acquire needed fat and nutrition, stocking enough energy in the stomach. Taking in enough nutrients is crucial for penguins to survive in such a harsh environment.
Last, they catch the prey with their hard beaks. It is interesting that when a penguin gets food, others may grab it. Moreover, penguins will attack the prey from the prey’s lower place. Gentoo penguins, which is a kind of penguins living in the Falkland Islands, attack krill from below, so that they cannot escape easily by following their habit. Penguin is a creature without teeth. They put their food in their mouth and swallow it. As for their food, according to the species and the habitat, their diet may have trivial variations. They eat crustaceans like krill and squids. Fish including high nutrition is their option, too. Without a beak, penguins can’t consume food.
In conclusion, while penguins hunt, they dive into the ocean, find for their prey, and pick them up with beaks. Animals develop their hunting abilities to survive in the food chain. They also have to protect themselves from being the meals of predators. Competition and predation between animals are inevitable. Whether penguins or other animals, they evolve in unique ways to survive in nature. Human beings stand at the top of the food chain pyramid. We are the predators of all animals. Nevertheless, to create a friendly environment for humans and creatures living in the world, we should not keep devastating the food chain due to greed, or we will get punishment from this land.
Sources:
Seaworld Parks & Entertainment- More about Penguins- Diet & Eating Habit. Retrieved From
https://seaworld.org/animals/all-about/penguins/diet-and-eating-habits/
Penguins Blog- How Do Penguins Get Their Food? Retrieved From
https://penguinsblog.com/how-do-penguins-get-their-food/
National Geographic- How penguins show their smarts. Retrieved From
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/penguin-intelligence-in-hunting-and-navigation
Penguins Blog- Where Do Penguins Eat. Retrieved from
https://penguinsblog.com/where-do-penguins-eat/
Penguins Blog- When Do Penguins Eat. Retrieved from