Why are penguins black and white? Penguin color questions and answers
This constant primarily has to do with how penguins make a living, which is in the sea. But, being in the sea also means being a link in the marine food chain, and it is in the water where all penguins are most vulnerable. That said, nature adapts and improvises, and over countless generations penguins have taken on their signature black and white coloring to protect themselves from potential predators as well as enable them to be stealthy hunters. That's one of interesting penguin facts for kids.
This adaptation is a type of camouflaging called counter-shading, which makes it harder for both their predators as well as their prey to see them from all sorts of angles. When penguins are in the water, their white chests camouflage them from being seen from below against the lighter sky coming through the waters surface. From below a penguin's white belly blends into the bright surface of the ocean while from above a penguin's dark back disappears into the inky blackness of the ocean below. From above, their black backs help them blend in with the darker, deeper ocean waters below them. In the ocean, penguins’ really do need this natural camouflage from multiple predators that include seals, sea lions, and killer whales. So penguin color is kind of camouflage that is crucial in avoiding predators and catching prey.
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