Penguins have a hard time mating do to how their body is shaped.Their bodies are shaped like bottles and you know it’s really hard to keep a bottle on top of another one.So, when penguins decide to mate, the female must keep still while the male gets on top. If the female moves the male will fall. Mating only lasts a few seconds because of this.
Penguins are like most seabirds.They tend to be long-lived .They can take 3 to 8 yrs. to reach sexual maturity.Now,small species begin in 3 or 4yrs. Most large species breed until 5 or 8 years. The King penguin has the longest breeding cycle. It lasts from 14 to 16 months. Female King penguins can produce 2 chicks in every 3 breeding seasons. Emperor penguins breed during Antartic winter. Now, the Fairy penguin has the shortest breeding cycle. Also it breeds throughout the year.
Penguins are mostly monogamous, which means they are with one mate at a time. Even though some females have up to 3 mates and males have up to 2 partners, mate selection is done by the females. Also females compete for males. When a female selects another male, it is because her mate didn't return to the shores of the Anarctic Islands and adjacent islands. King penguins may be in inland or coastal or antarctic and subarctic islands. Chinstraps nest on steep slopes. The Fiordland-crested penguins nest on wet, coastal, and park places. Galapos use cracks on rocks.
Penguins' eggs can be from white to blueish to greenish. The shape depends on the species. The size and weight also depends on the species. A nest with eggs is called a clutch. Usually the first egg is is bigger than the second egg - except for the Chinstrap and Yellow-eyed penguin.
Now, incubation is important. Emperors build no nests. They hold their eggs on top of their feet, under a poose fold called a brood patch. Here heat is transferred to the eggs. This the same with the King penguin. With the exception of the King and Emperor penguins all the rest build nests. Their incubation time depends on the species. Finally, the egg will hatch and a new penguin is born!
Just thought you might be curious!
