It’s Penguin Awareness Day Jan 20, 2019

It’s Penguin Awareness Day

In honor of Penguin Awareness Day, we’re featuring the big daddy of the penguin world–the emperor penguin. At about 4 feet tall and weighing up to 100 pounds, it’s both the tallest and heaviest penguin species. The emperor is found only in Antarctica, where it endures wind chills colder than -75 degrees F and blizzard winds of more than 120 mph. It survives these harsh weather conditions by storing lots of fat underneath four layers of feathers. But the emperor penguin truly rules underwater, where it spends roughly half of its life. Studies show that an emperor can dive more than 1,700 feet below the surface, holding its breath more than 15 minutes at a time. It goes to such great depths in search of food, often for its babies back on shore.

© Paul Nicklen/Getty Images

palette

Today in History

Jan 20, 2018Yellow-eyed penguins, Moeraki, New Zealand
Jan 20, 2020A march toward a dream
Jan 20, 2021Penguins can t fly!
Jan 20, 2022Penguin Awareness Day
Jan 20, 2023Penguin Awareness Day
Jan 20, 2024Penguin Awareness Day
Jan 20, 2025Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Jan 20, 2026Penguin Awareness Day

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Sep 5, 2021Venice s grand regatta
May 14, 2022Windmills in Kinderdijk, the Netherlands
Dec 30, 2024Mount Field National Park, Tasmania, Australia
May 16, 2024International Day of Light
Jul 22, 2022Our Lady of the Rocks
Oct 25, 2019The lemurs of Madagascar
Jun 4, 2023Waiānapanapa State Park, Maui, Hawaii
Jan 20, 2021Penguins can t fly!
Jan 27, 2019A memorial in Germany
Sep 1, 2019Bidding summer adieu
Mar 30, 2021Best fronds forever
Jul 7, 2021Back on the rise
Nov 13, 2025Quiver trees, Keetmanshoop, Namibia
Jul 7, 2023World Chocolate Day
Aug 15, 2025Spotted eagle rays in the Galápagos Islands
Jun 2, 2022Queen Elizabeth s Platinum Jubilee
Oct 30, 2022Polar Bear Week
Nov 19, 2023Alam-Pedja Nature Reserve, Estonia
May 6, 2022Bluebells in Hertfordshire, England
Jun 30, 2025Asteroid Day
May 4, 2021Happy Star Wars Day!
Dec 8, 2023La Rocque Harbour, Island of Jersey
Dec 6, 2021Computer Science EDU Week
Feb 23, 2018Aerial view of the Colorado River Delta in Mexico
Dec 25, 2023Merry Christmas!
Jan 27, 2020Thomas Edison s bright idea
Oct 23, 2021Eurasian scops owl
Jul 15, 2018GOAL!
Apr 26, 2021Cheese! We ll go somewhere where there s cheese!
Jun 30, 2022Asteroid Day