Do you know about Penguins? 🐧

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Speaker 1: Hi, science fans, Guess what. We are launching season four of sleep Tight Science this September, and we need your help to make it extra special. Did you know that your voice can be part of our show. We want to hear your amazing voices in our show opening. It's super easy and fun to join in. Just record yourself saying you are listening to sleep Tight Science, then send your recording to the email address in our show notes. How cool is that. We can't wait to hear all your fantastic voices. Thank you for listening. You're listening to sleep Tight Science. Did you know that penguins can shoot their poop over long distances up to several feet away? What Scientists actually study penguin poop from space because it stains the ice and can be seen from satellites. This helps researchers track penguin colonies. Hello friends, and welcome back to sleep Tight Science, a bedtime show that answers your questions about science. In this episode, we will waddle into the world of one of the most tuxedoed creatures on the planet and an often requested topic, penguins. Penguins are special birds that look like they're always ready for a fancy party. Instead of flying in the sky, they flap their wings to swim super fast in the ocean. Penguins are amazing swimmers, and they can dive deep into the water to catch their food. Penguins love to eat fish, squishy squids, and even tiny shrimp like animals called krill yum. These birds live in some of the coldest places on Earth. Most call the icy land of Antarctica home. But not all penguins love the extreme cold. Some like to hang out on warmer beaches in places like South Africa, Australia, and even some islands close to the equator. But whether they live in the coal or a bit warmer places, they all need the ocean to find food. Penguins come in all sizes, from the little blue penguin, which is not much bigger than a ruler, to the emperor penguin, even though they all look a bit different. Most penguins have a white belly and a black back, which helps them hide from predators in the water. When predators look up, the penguin's white belly blends in with the bright sunshine, and when predators look down, the penguin's dark back blends in with the deep dark ocean. It's like their very own super secret camouflage. Penguins are also super social and love hanging out with family and friends. They live in large groups called colonies, where they keep each other warm, look for food, and care for their babies. And guess what. Penguins are fantastic parents. They take turns keeping their eggs warm and then feed their chicks by bringing back food in their bellies. These dedicated parents make sure their little ones are safe and sound. Did you know that there are seventeen different penguin species in the world today. They are the following one a Deli, two African, three, chin strap four Emperor, five erect crested six Fjordland seven, Galopagos, eight, gent two nine Humboldt, ten, King eleven little Blue, twelve, Macaroni, thirteen Magellanic fourteen rock Coper, fifteen Royal, sixteen snares and seventeen yellow eyed. That's a lot of penguins. Emily from Hampshire, United Kingdom asks us how do penguins survive on the coldest, windiest continent on Earth, Antarctica. The penguin's ability to survive in Antarctica is amazing here's a list of how they managed to thrive in such a harsh and warm and cozy feathers penguins boast a dense feather layer that provides insulation against the cold. These feathers overlap tightly, trapping warmth, and are coated with a waterproof oil, keeping penguins dry and snug during icy swims. A layer of blubber. Penguins have a thick layer of blubber beneath their skin. This acts like a natural warm blanket, trapping body heat and ensuring they stay warm even when temperatures plummet. The power of huddling, they share body heat by gathering in large groups, ensuring everyone stays warm. The penguins rotate positions so that each one spends time in the warmer center of the huddle. Innovative blood circulation Penguins have unique proteins in their blood prevent it from freezing, alongside a specialized circulation system. This system keeps their extremities at the right temperature, minimizing heat loss without freezing. Energy saving movements on land, penguins can serve energy by moving efficiently, waddling or sliding on their bellies across the ice. This not only saves energy, but also keeps them warm in the water. Their streamlined shape allows them to swim with minimal effort, making hunting for food more energy efficient. Smart nesting choices, penguins are strategic about where they nest to protect their eggs from the cold and wind. For example, emperor penguins don't build nests. Instead, they keep their eggs warm by balancing them on their feet and cut them with a special feathered skin flap. Through these remarkable adaptations, from their insulating feathers and blubber to their social warmth sharing and ingenious blood circulation, penguins don't just survive in Antarctica, they flourish. Thank you for the question, Emily, did you know that not all penguins live in cold places? African penguins have to cope with high temperatures on the coasts of Nambia and South Africa. Where do penguins live? Penguins make their homes in oceans and a long coastline. They love living on islands and far off places with few land predators, so being unable to fly isn't a problem for them. They're really good at life in the ocean, and some penguins can even spend months swimming and catching fish without ever coming to land. Different species thrive in varying climates. Some, like the Galapago's penguins, live on sunny tropical islands on the equator, But then you have the Emperor penguins who love the super cold ice and waters of Antarctica. Most penguins live in the southern Hemisphere. You can find penguins in Antarctica. It's really cold, so penguins like the Emperor penguin have thick feathers and cuddle together to stay warm. South America, penguins like the Magellanic penguin dig burrows to hide their babies from predators and keep them safe. In Australia and New Zealand, tiny little blue penguins have shiny coats to zip through the water and cozy homes in the ground to snuggle in. In South Africa, African penguins have special pink spots above their eyes to help them stay cool in the sun. On the Galapagos Islands near the equator, Galapago's penguins stay cool by swimming in chilly water and stretching out to let the breeze cool them. Down. Did you know that the biggest penguin is the emperor penguin, which can be one hundred and thirty centimeters or fifty one inches tall and weigh forty five kilograms or about one hundreds At the other end of the scale, four little blue penguins would have to stand on one another's shoulders to be as tall as an emperor penguin. Now, let's answer some listener questions. Our first question comes from Calli, who just turned seven on January twenty fifth, Happy belated birthday, Calli. Calli asks, why do we have bad dreams? When we have bad dreams, our brain is actually very busy. Think of your brain like a supercomputer that's always on, even when you're sleeping during the night, especially in the part of sleep called REM sleep stands for rapid eye movement. Our brain starts to sort through and process all the things we learned, saw and felt during the day. Sometimes, if we feel scared, worried, or have a lot on our minds, our brain tries to make sense of those feelings by creating a story or a dream. Even though it's just trying to help. Sometimes the stories it makes can be a bit scary or strange, and that's when we might have bad dreams. Our brain doesn't mean to make us feel scared on purpose. It's like it's practicing how to solve problems or deal with feelings. But since we're asleep, it does it by making up a dream. And because our brain is so creative, those dreams can be vivid and feel real. There are a few other reasons why bad dreams might pop up during sleep. Watching a scary movie or hearing a spooky story before bed can make our dreams a bit frightening because our imagination keeps thinking about them. Eating right before bed can make your tummy work hard at night, and sometimes that leads to not so nice dreams. When you are sick or have a fever, it can make your dreams weird or scary. It's okay to have bad dreams. Everyone does. They're just our brain's way of sorting through our feelings. If a bad dream makes you scared, talking about it with someone like a parent can help make it less scary. Doing calm things before bed, like listening to one of our stories can help make good dreams more likely. Thank you for the question, Cally. Our next question comes from Max, who is nine years old and from Cochrane, Alberta. Max wonders how you can hear the ocean through seashells. Is it magic? Hearing the ocean and seashells might seem like magic, but it's a cool science trick. You're not actually hearing the ocean when you hold a seashell up to your ear. What's happening is the shells great at picking up all kinds of sounds around you, from the buzz of a bee to the whisper of the wind. Inside the shell, these sounds bounce around and echo because of its hard curved walls, mixing together into a constant bushing noise. But that's not all. The shell can also catch the sound of your body, like the blood flowing in your ears. A to the woosh. This wshing sound reminds us of the ocean waves crashing on the shore, so our brain makes us think we're hearing the ocean. It's a neat example of how our senses and the world around us can create a special experience, even if it's not exactly what it seems. Thank you for the question, Max. Our last question comes from Amelia, who is six and from Nottingham, UK. Amelia asks how do our voices work and why are they all different? Imagine your voice is like a musical instrument you always carry. This special instrument is made up of parts called vocal chords, which are like two tiny strings in your throat. When you talk, laugh, or sing, air from your lungs blows past these strings, making them vibrate or wiggle super fast. This vibration makes a sound, just like when you strum a guitar. Now, why do we all sound different? It's because everyone's vocal chords are a bit different. Some are longer, some are shorter, and our throats and mouths are shaped differently too. It's a bit like how a big guitar makes a deeper sound and a small guitar makes a higher sound. Plus how we move our mouth and tongue changes the sound, making your voice unique to you. That's why everyone's voice is different and special in their own way. Thank you for your question, Amelia. Now for some fun facts. Did you know that In twenty twenty, scientists discovered that the poop of king penguins releases nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas. So technically, hanging around penguin colonies might make you giggle. Did you know that penguins have more feathers than any other bird, around one hundred feathers per square inch. This dense feather coat keeps them warm in icy waters, making them the Kings and Queens of Cozy. When penguins need to move quickly on ice or snow, they flop onto their bellies and slide, using their flippers to propel themselves. It's not only an efficient way to travel, but it also looks really fun. Ever wonder why penguins waddle. It's because their legs are set far back on their bodies, making them excellent swimmers but a bit clumsy on land. Watching them wattle can be pretty funny, but it's a clever way to save energy as they move. Did you know that the fastest penguin swimmer is the Gentoo penguin. It can zoom through the water at up to thirty six kilometers an hour or twenty two miles per hour, making it the Michael Phelps of the penguin world. This episode was made with questions from Emily from Hampshire, You can CALLI Max from Cochrane, Alberta and Amelia from Nottingham, UK. In this episode, we learned a little about penguins. We looked at all the various places where you can find penguins, from the South Pole to some islands closer to the equator. We talked about the coloring of penguins that all penguins share, regardless of their size, and how that helps them stay safe. We listed the different species of penguins that can be found all over the world and compared the smallest and the largest. We looked at how penguins can stay warm in some of the coldest places on Earth and how they are able to conserve so much energy. We answered some questions about why we have bad dreams, how we can hear the ocean through a seashell, and how our voices work and why they sound different. Thank you to Jace, aged six, from Southington, Connecticut, USA, Daniel L from Northern Virginia who is six, Laurie who is eight, Sabina from Bozeman, Montana, who is six, Aaron from London who is six, Odin who is five, Alara benneker Hoskin who is five years old, and Luke who is five years old. We love getting your feedback on our show. If you have any feedback, please send it our way, and if you want to make sure to get all the episodes, please ask your parents to subscribe. You can find us on Apple Podcasts or wherever your parents listen to podcasts. And please, if you love learning about science with us, leave us a review. It may help others to find our show. If you'd like to send us your questions, please send them to Hello at sleep tightscience dot com sleep tight