Is it because they look adorable and being flightless they waddle when they walk? Is it because we love the penguins in the Madagascar movies, Happy Feet or in Mary Poppins? Or because we have seen the BBC documentaries of the emperor penguins when up to 5,000 adults and chicks have to cuddle together to keep warm in the freezing cold of an Antarctic winter, when temperatures plummet to -20 °C or below.
Did you know that emperor penguins are the largest living penguin and breed the furthest south of any penguin species. They may be the only bird never to set foot on land as their colonies are on the sea ice and they even breed on frozen sea. Emperor penguins can live up to 20 years!
One of the main threats to many penguins is climate change which is reducing the amount of sea ice in parts of the Antarctic which is a problem because one of their main foods - krill - breeds and feeds under the sea ice. So if there is no sea ice because of climate change there is no krill and no food for the penguins.
Please donate to support the work of the WWF as they are one of the most important animal charities and is working to help the penguins across the Antarctic.
