2007-01-23 06:45:51 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
Penguin legs are short (no Knees, because no length?) and strong. Feet are webbed, with visible claws. The legs are set far back on the body to aid in streamlining and steering while swimming.
Wings are modified into paddlelike flippers. The bones are much flattened and, broadened, with the joint of elbow and wrist almost fused. This forms a rigid, tapered, and flat flipper for swimming (Marchant, 1990). Each flipper is covered with short, scale-like feathers. The long wing feathers typical of most birds would be too flexible for swimming through water
Consider their wings are for 'flight' through the water. As for the point of wings.....consider th EMU and Ostrich.
2007-01-23 07:04:19 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Penguins are birds. The structure of the legs is the same as any other bird from ostriches to hummingbirds. The legs are strong and short but have the same bones and bends as any other bird's legs.
Penguins do fly and they fly very well - under water. The flipper is a remarkable adaptation of the wing and it propels the bird at great speed through the water. In the northern hemisphere, auks fill the niche filled by penguins in the south. Auks use their wings for both flying and swimming. This restricts the size of the auks. The largest of the auks is about the same size as the smallest of the penguins. There was a larger auk, the Great Auk. It too was flightless like penguins and used its wings for swimming only. Alas it is extinct.
2007-01-23 15:06:37 · answer #2 · answered by tentofield 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't know about knees. I should say no because I've seen them walk up close and they do kind of waddle or topple side to side instead of just moving straight forward.
Reading the answers, I sit corrected on the knee issue.
About the wings, I consider them flippers because they are harder than wings and they use them in the fashion of fins or flippers.
2007-01-30 00:23:05 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, penguins have knees -- as do ALL birds.
They are very close to the body, hidden by feathers.
The "wings" lost their primary and secondary feathers and evolved into strong flippers. The term "wings" is somewhat misleading.
2007-01-23 15:11:54 · answer #4 · answered by Icteridae 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don't know about the knees. The wings make them unique and the birds a bit funny to look at.
2007-01-31 13:56:28 · answer #5 · answered by Pancake 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi. The wings were useful earlier in the evolution of penguins. I've never seen a skeleton of one so I don't know about the knees, but they don't kneel down.
2007-01-23 14:50:34 · answer #6 · answered by Cirric 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
penguins are all avian, so they do have knees however reduced they are, and well as far as the wings go the have modified them to aid them in swimming.
2007-01-28 16:23:54 · answer #7 · answered by rizo_rocker 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They swim with their wings, but no way did their wings evolve. That is nonsense. It is physically impossible.
2007-01-30 00:45:47 · answer #8 · answered by Rick 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure about knees, but I know a bit about the flippers.
Penguins use them for propulsion, stabilization, and steering while swimming underwater.
2007-01-23 14:54:13 · answer #9 · answered by wax 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
but they can Swim very Fast up to 35 miles per hour
2007-01-30 13:06:47 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋