Why Don't Penguins Feet Freeze ? ?

Answer 1

Great Question...

Penguins Feet are in many ways like a wild ducks feet...
You see ducks of all breeds out in freezing winter weathers on rivers and ponds... they do not freeze thier feet either..

Penguins have two areas where their body is very poorly insulated and where they can lose a lot of heat, these are their flippers and their feet. These areas give penguins at the same time a problem and a solution. A problem because of the heat loss, and a solution because they can be used for cooling down. It's all well and good being brilliantly insulated, but when you use a lot of energy and so generate heat, or the temperature rises, not being able to lose that heat becomes a big disadvantage in itself...

The muscles that operate feet and flippers are not located in the feet and flippers, but deeper in the warmer regions of the penguins body. The feet and flippers are moved by tendons that pass through them and attach to toes etc. like a sort of remote operation by wire or string. This means that it doesn't matter if the feet and flippers get really cold as they can still be operated normally by regions that are fully functional and at normal body temperature.

Penguins have a heat-exchange blood-flow to these regions. The warm blood entering the feet or flippers flows past cold blood leaving so warming it up in the process and cooling the blood entering at the same time. Blood in these parts is significantly colder than in the rest of the body. By the time the blood re-enters the rest of the body it has been warmed up and so doesn't have so great an effect on the core body temperature.

Penguins feet are never allowed to get below freezing point, blood flow is finely adjusted so that they are kept just above. When it gets very cold, the feet are covered by the feathers and fat layer of the body so they are not exposed to cooling winds. So while a man standing barefoot on ice would quickly get frostbitten, penguins can do so all their lives with no damage at all. Pretty cool eh! This is the same for Ducks and Geese in Winter.

At low temperatures or when in the sea, the blood flow to feet and flippers is very low anyway so reducing heat loss further. When the penguin needs to lose heat quickly, the blood flow to these extremities is increased and so lots of warm blood enters them which cools quickly so dumping excess heat rapidly and efficiently.
ALSO penguins stand on tip-toes when it's really cold, they rock backwards on their heels, holding their toes up. How do they stop themselves from falling over backwards? They support themselves by their stiff tail feathers that have no blood flow and so lose no heat.

Emperor penguins live in probably the most extreme conditions endured by any warm-blooded animal on earth. They even breed in the depths of the Antarctic winter at temperatures of -30?C (-22?F) and below while putting up with winds of 200 kmh (125mph) and more which gives a wind chill factor that you don't even want to think about that would freeze exposed human flesh in seconds.

BRRRRRRRRR

Here are some links for Penguins

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/kids/creature_feature/0101/penguins2.html

http://www.panda.org/news_facts/education/middle_school/species_home/species_carnivores/penguin/index.cfm

Also the Movie " March of the Penguins" is GREAT as it really shows you and tells you how it is... Its on DVD , we got our copy at Target for 9.99 on sale.
Even if You are not a wildlife nut you will enjoy it ... its informative but yet entertaining and cute.

Hope this helps!

Wismom

Answer 2

There are 18 species of penguin, and only 2 of those actually live on ice, so the vast majority of penguins wouldn't have this problem. For those that live on ice, they just squat down over their feet if they get too cold, or they move them about.

To answer Halox's question, they don't have external genitals. They just rub openings together (which is why they look odd when they're doing it!)

Answer 3

I heard a saying the other day that really tickled me. A man came into the office and said ' Its colder than a penguins clit' I laughted so much I nearly wet myself.

Answer 4

Perhaps they do freeze, but either nobody cares, or the Penguins don't complain about it.

Answer 5

The have an alternative blood supply to there feet, plus
great thermal skin !!

Answer 6

they would ask you why are your feet warm for the most part nature is a wonderful thing if your born in the Artic then nature provided you with the necessary protection

Answer 7

easy..........they only don't wear their socks when they are out in the open air. As soon as they get home, there little socks and booties go straight on. They also like to drink hot chocolate just before bed and have a little hot water bottle placed by their mummies into their beds just before turning in time.........how cute is the thought of that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 8

Because they are fat and there belly keeps them warm. How can they breed when its that cold too. Have you gals any idea how inverted it must be at -50 degrees. It will be like the inside of a traffic cone.

Answer 9

Something to do with the fact that they can slow down their blood flow. Can't really remember the rest

Answer 10

because they have a constant flow of warm blood that flows to there feet and because as they crouch down there feathers cover there feet