Emperor penguins (Xinhua)
ANTARCTICA, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Today let's meet the aborigines of the Antarctica -- penguins.
Not all penguins look the same. Actually, there are different species of them. First, have a look at the three chinstrap penguins. It seems that each of them is wearing a hat which is attached by a string on their cheeks.
Chinstrap penguins (Xinhua)
Chinstrap penguins have a body length of between 68 and 77 cm, and weigh between 3.2 and 5.3 kg. They breed on the Antarctica and some islands in South America.
Gentoo penguin (Xinhua)
The species with white feathers on the top of its head is called Gentoo Penguin. But they only wear the white feathers in their childhood. After coming of age, the feathers across the top of the head will gradually disappear and leave a white stripe, just like this:
Gentoo penguin (Xinhua)
Usually, an adult gentoo penguin can be 76 to 81 cm high, weighing 4.5 to 8.5 kg.
Adelie penguin (Xinhua)
Adelie penguins are the most common penguin species in the Antarctica, which can easily be distinguished by the black head, the white ring surrounding the eye and the short beak. They can reach 71 cm in height and 3.8 to 8.2 kg in weight.
Emperor penguins (Xinhua)
Being 112 to 115 cm in height and 19 to 46 kg in weight, the Emperor Penguin is the tallest and the heaviest among all penguins species. They can only be found on the land of Antarctica.
In 2009, scientists from the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States found out the number of emperor penguins for the first time. They said that there are 595,000 of them on the land of snow and ice.
King penguins (Xinhua)
The King Penguin looks similar to the Emperor Penguin, but they have a slight difference on the cheek: the color of the Emperor Penguin's cheek gradually changes from yellow to white while the cheek color of the King Penguin is purely yellow.
The above picture shows a family of king emperors. The young one is called kiwi fruit. How funny!
(Photos are provided by Xinhua reporter Rong Qihan; Miao Xing, researcher with China's 33rd Antarctic expedition; and Mu Lianqing, researcher with China's 32nd Antarctic expedition.)
