A penguin is a bird with a unique organism. Penguins, represented in nature by several species, can be small or very large, but in any case they remain the only flightless waterfowl on the planet. They also have one more specific feature - the ability to keep the body straight, and not inclined, as is typical for all other birds.
However, how do they manage to survive in extremely low temperatures? And how do they not freeze their webbed feet, not protected by feathers?
Penguin Life and Climate
Antarctica is truly the harsh continent of the planet. The lowest temperatures recorded near the South Pole are -89 degrees. And the average annual temperature of these places is -49 degrees. There are piercing winds blowing at a speed of up to 100 meters per second - in a word, there are no conditions for a comfortable life at first glance. However, everywhere on coastal spaces penguins live here. Birds do not freeze from the cold, and in addition, regularly dive into the icy waters to profit from fish. How do they do it?
Interesting fact: penguins are excellent swimmers, they spend a lot of time in the water and can dive 500 meters deep.
Penguin survival mechanism in the cold
Not the only species of penguins lives in Antarctica - you can meet here the largest imperial species of birds, and the species of Adele.All of them are resistant to cold, dive into icy water in the cold and stand with their featherless legs on snowy and icy surfaces.
In part, their cold resistance is understandable - each penguin has a dense layer of subcutaneous fat reaching 3 cm, as well as a triple layer of feathers, which are very high in density and absolutely waterproof. The body of the penguin is covered with this “down jacket” literally from head to toe, except for the paws, and probably the birds do not even feel the cold from the water they dive into. Between the feathers there is an air layer that isolates the bodies of birds from the cold absolutely. Neither icy water nor piercing wind penguins are not afraid.
Why paws do not freeze?
In general, a penguin just needs to sit down so that his legs are warm among feathers. However, the feet will still touch ice or snow. Why do not they freeze, because penguins can stand on cold surfaces for hours? At the same time, they do not demonstrate any discomfort from what is happening.
To provide this part of the body with such amazing resistance to cold, nature has created a very special temperature exchange system. The circulatory system of the paws has a specific device, the flows of venous and arterial blood are adjacent here, and a temperature exchange occurs between them.
Due to the fact that veins with cold blood rising from the paws pass almost in contact with the arteries supplying hot blood, the temperature is averaged.And the legs of the penguins are, of course, not as hot as the whole body, but also not cold.
What is the temperature of penguin legs?
Many people are used to hearing from parents that if you wet or freeze your legs, you can catch a cold. The penguins probably haven’t heard anything about it - the normal temperature of their paws is only 4 degrees Celsius. It would seem, another joke of nature. However, as practice shows, cool paws are very useful for Arctic birds.
This temperature indicator allows them to walk confidently on the ice, to stand in the same place for a long time. If their feet were hot, the snow would melt beneath them, and they themselves would freeze in the ice when they stood for a long time in one place. However, nothing of the kind happens. Nature adapted the penguins to the Antarctic climate, taking into account all the little things.
Thus, penguins do not freeze paws due to the special blood supply system, which allows maintaining the temperature balance even in cold weather and with constant walking on ice, or when swimming in cold water. Close veins and arteries allow the blood to average the temperature, which maintains a stable temperature, which is usually 4 degrees.
