Virgil Peters, age 10, of Mapleton, I11. for his question:
HOW DO PENGUINS GIVE BIRTH?
The elegant penguins look somewhat like gentlemen, all dressed up in black and white to attend a formal dinner party. Nevertheless, they are genuine birds, and every member of the bird world hatches from an egg. Though all female penguins lay eggs, different species have very different ideas about hatching them and raising their families.
The 18 different kinds of penguins vary from one foot to four feet tall and all of the females lay chalky white eggs. Some build no nests at all. They hatch their chicks on the frozen snows of Antarctica. Others build nests on the top of neatly piled stones. The giant of the clan is the haughty emperor, who may be four feet tall and weigh 100 pounds. He shares the South Polar icecap with the smaller king and the clownish little Adelie penguins.
Come spring, throngs of Adelie penguins gather by the shores, and each male stands on his future nest site waiting for the snow to go. Then he selects suitable pebbles and his mate builds the nest. She lays two eggs and toboggans away to feed in the sea. Two weeks later she returns and the male bird leaves to feed. The chicks hatch after about five weeks and both parents toil to feed them.
The emperor and the king penguins have bigger problems because they give birth where the icy snow never melts. Each female lays a single egg but it rarely if ever touches the frozen ground. This is possible because the parents have big flat feet and an overhanging flap of warm leathery flesh.
Each parent takes his or her turn. Carefully the precious egg is juggled from one pair of feet to another and tenderly tucked under its cozy blanket. Then the free parent departs to feast in the sea. Though their nesting habits are similar, the emperor and king penguins raise their chicks during different seasons.
The king family produces its egg in the spring. The chick hatches some seven weeks later and grows up during the bitter Antarctic winter. The emperor's egg survives the winter and the chick hatches in time to grow up during the short summer season.
Other penguins breed along rocky shores in somewhat warmer regions. All penguins are very sociable birds and hundreds of families nest in crowded rookeries. Later, while parents are away fishing, the chicks huddle together in crowded nurseries called creches.