World Penguin Awareness Day: Let’s meet the majestic birds before extinction

Who doesn’t love the adorable penguins! The cute creatures are everybody’s favorite. Penguins are loved across the world, for their upright and waddling gait, along with their impressive swimming abilities and lack of fear of humans. Their black-and-white plumage often looks like a white tie suit. The Penguin Awareness Day is celebrated every year on January 20th. It is to celebrate as well as commemorate the fascinating birds, loved by people all over the world. The Day is also to bring attention to these flightless birds, whose numbers are shrinking fast each day as the effects of climate change get even more drastic.

Did you know: Some interesting penguin facts

Penguins are loved by people across the world. The fascination is evident from the fact that people spend time exchanging fun penguin facts. Some interesting facts about the majestic aquatic birds are given below:

• Emperor Penguins (the largest of penguins) can be as big as 3.7 feet tall
• Penguins are able to dive at 7.5 miles per hour
• The earliest penguins lived 65 million years ago
• Penguins have 18 different species
• Mostly, penguins are monogamous
• The average penguin can live till 20 years
• All wild penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere

Where are penguins found the most? In movies and books

Penguins have generally been subjects of several films and books like Surf’s Up, Happy Feet, and The Penguins of Madagascar; March of the Penguins (documentary); Farce of the Penguins (parody). Mr. Popper’s Penguins is a kids book by Richard and Florence Atwater. Penguins also inhabit cartoons and television dramas, such as Pingu (created by Silvio Mazzola in 1986). The adorable birds have always been a roaring success at the box office.

Getting to know the fearless birds this Penguin Awareness Day

The most appropriate way to celebrate the Penguin Awareness Day is to spend the whole day learning about the fascinating birds. Getting to know things such as their diet, where they live, how they live, as well as how climate change is affecting them. If there is a zoo in your area which features penguins, this is a good day to go over with the family.

For those who want to go for a good movie, you can watch one of the many penguin centered movies and documentaries. These include: March of the Penguins, Happy Feet, The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, The Penguin King and Surf’s Up.

The Penguin Awareness Day is a wonderful day to spare a thought about the world’s favorite aquatic bird and see them with our own eyes. After all, they may not survive much longer as climate change continues to drastically alter their habitat.

Click here to watch a YouTube video on penguins (Pingu)

Image credit: nationalgeographic.com