By Julie

Even though you’ve heard mostly about penguins like the adélie, emperor, and king, it’s not really realistic- most penguins live where it’s warmer or are even beach bums! A good phrase to describe the Galapagos penguin is “soaking up some sun rays”! These penguins live off the coast of Ecuador on the Galapagos Islands, on the Pacific Ocean. The air temperature can get over 100 degrees F, water temperature to 82 degrees F, and the dark feathers on their backs to 124 degrees F! This is 100 degrees (or more) warmer than the frosty Antarctic! Appropriately, Galapagos penguins nest in burrows, underneath plants, and in lava rock crevices. How do these penguins beat the heat, being the penguins living in the hottest climate?! The chilly Cromwell Current offers a refreshing dip, and the penguins spend a whole lot of time making a splash there. You might notice them panting like dogs that just ran like crazy. Humans sweat, but penguins lack sweat glands and lose body heat by panting. They hold their flippers slightly outward to lose more body heat and to keep their feet from getting sunburned! Even so, this type of penguin is officially endangered. There are only 15,000 birds left! This sad truth makes me want to hop a ship to the Galapagos and do something to help! Galapagos penguins are one of the smaller species, the smallest banded penguin. They have white stomachs and blue-black backs and heads. A blue-black band runs across their chests. Their bills are long and thin, like two burnt french fries stuck on top of one another! They are sometimes confused with their look-alike, the Magellanic, but Galapagos penguins are smaller and have thinner belly marks. So don’t take it for granted if you have air-contitioning and fans to keep you cool!
NOTE: This nonfiction paragraph was written for a school project.