It turns out that penguins have unique noses. There are many “nasal glands” in their noses that can release mucus at any time. In this way, excess salt present in his body is excreted with nasal mucus. Penguins are therefore not afraid of salty sea water.
Penguins drink sea water. They have special glands in their bodies that can remove salt as a liquid, collected in the grooves of the penguin's beak and dripping out the tip . of the beak. They also drink fresh water or eat snow directly.
When penguins drink seawater, they can eliminate excess salt and only absorb a small amount for the body's needs. The salt gland is a salt-excreting gland that can only be used when penguins drink seawater or eat. Salt glands begin to secrete after eating foods that contain more salt.
WhenAs the salt glands begin to secrete, the penguin continually shakes its body from side to side to eject the salt out of the face and away from the body as quickly as possible. The ancestors of the penguins living today in the Antarctic zone, the fulmarids, developed south of the equator.
Scientists think the reason they don't continue moving north to the Northern Hemisphere may be that penguins cannot tolerate the warm waters of the tropics. The northernmost limit of their distribution area corresponds entirely to the area where the average annual temperature is 20°C. Warm equatorial currents and higher temperatures create a natural barrier that prevents penguins from crossing the equator and heading north.
They can only live in maritime areas where water from melting ice and snow from Antarctica or fromcolder water coming from the deep sea. The penguin itself has its own unique structure: the density of the penguin's feathers is three to four times that of birds of the same size, and the function of these feathers is to regulate body temperature. Although penguins' legs are basically the same as those of other flying birds, their bones are hard, short, and flat.
This feature, combined with short wings that resemble paddles, allows penguins to “fly” underwater. Although it is extremely cold in Antarctica, penguins have been tempered by blizzards for tens of millions of years and their feathers have evolved into overlapping, densely connected scales.
This special feather coat is not only difficult for sea water to penetrate, but even if the temperature is nearly 100 degrees below zero, it is impossible to break its defense linethermal insulation. Antarctica has a lot of land and a vast sea surface. The abundant marine plankton has become an abundant food source for penguins.