3 4 20 emperor penguins (science)

It is time for the penguin mothers to lay their eggs.. The penguin fathers will help care for the eggs.. Emperor penguin parents work as a team to care for their eggs and chicks... Empe

by Stephanie Cohen

ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Joe LeMonnier

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS: Cover © Johnny Johnson/Animals Animals-Earth Scenes 1 © Frans Lanting/Minden Pictures

2 Hans Reinhard/Photo Researchers, Inc 3 National Geographic/Getty Images 4 Hans Reinhard/Photo Researchers, Inc

6 © DOUG ALLAN/OSF/Animals Animals-Earth Scenes 7 Hans Reinhard/Photo Researchers, Inc 8 © Frans Lanting/ Minden Pictures 9 © Kevin Schafer/CORBIS 10 © Johnny Johnson/Animals Animals-Earth Scenes.

Copyright © by Houghton Miffl in Company All rights reserved.

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of Houghton Miffl in material to School Permissions, Houghton Miffl in Company, 222 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA 02116 Printed in China

ISBN-13: 978-0-547-02163-8

ISBN-10: 0-547-02163-1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 RRD 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08

Parent Time

It is June in Antarctica The region

is very cold The sun won’t shine much for months But the Emperor penguins are busy It is time for the penguin

mothers to lay their eggs The penguin fathers will help care for the eggs

Emperor penguin parents work as a team

to care for their eggs and chicks.

Fun Fact

The smallest penguin

is the little blue, or fairy, penguin It is only 12 inches tall.

A Big Bird

The Emperor penguin is the largest

penguin It can grow to be four feet tall That’s as tall as a six-year-old child

Emperor penguins spend

most of their time

in the water,

looking for food.

Keeping Warm

During the summer, penguins eat a lot By the time winter arrives, they have

a thick layer of fat It keeps them warm

in this cold climate The penguins’

feathers help keep them warm, too, but not overheated

The penguins march across the

ice, looking for a place to lay their eggs.

S O U T H E R N O C E A N

Antarctica

North America

South America

Europe

Asia

Australia

Equator

Africa

Where the penguins are

Where’s the Nest?

The mother penguin lays only one

egg She can’t build a nest to shelter the egg because there are no twigs, mud,

or grass in Antarctica She lays the egg right onto the cold ice

The first part of her job is done She goes back across the icy wilderness to

find food in the water

Fun Fact

There are 14 different

kinds of penguins All

of them live south of

the Equator, on the

bottom half of Earth.

A Good Father

Now something unexpected happens The father cares for the egg until it

hatches He rolls it onto his feet Then he covers it tightly with a flap of skin The egg will sit in this safe, warm spot for two months

The colony of father penguins works together to stay warm

They form a tight

bunch to protect

their eggs from

the cold

The father never

leaves the egg He

can’t eat or swim.

A Chick Hatches

The baby chick finally hatches It’s

time for mother penguin to come back

to her family She must feed her chick

It’s a long trip back She will be gliding along the ice to get home fast

By now, the fathers are skinny, dirty, and hungry They hurry to the water to eat They will feast on fish and krill

Gliding helps the penguins move faster.

Fluffy Feathers

The baby chick has gray, fluffy

feathers As he grows up, the baby sheds these fluffy feathers He grows waterproof feathers They keep him warm and dry

A grown penguin has black and white feathers.

Baby Grows Up

The chick needs constant protection

by his parents until the summer By

then he has a thick coat of small, shiny feathers He must now take his first

steps to growing up

This baby doesn’t have his waterproof feathers yet.

Fun Fact

Rockhoppers, chinstraps,

and macaronis are all

types of penguins.

It is time for the growing penguin to

go into the water He has to learn to find his own food In five years, he can have

a chick of his own to keep safe

The young penguin is now strong enough to be

on his own His parents have done a good job!

TARGET VOCABULARY Word Builder

Make a word web about a cold climate

Copy the web and add more words that

describe what you might find in a cold

climate.

cold climate

snow

Text to World Penguins live in a cold

climate Write a paragraph that tells how

they survive in the cold Use the word web

and text to help you write.

Write About It

TARGET STRATEGY Infer/Predict Use clues to figure out more about the selection.

Change the last letter of this word to r

and it becomes something that makes you hot.

climate

colony

constant

gliding

layer

overheated region shelter unexpected wilderness

TARGET VOCABULARY

ISBN-13: 978-0-547-02163-8 ISBN-10: 0-547-02163-1

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

Online Leveled Books

Level: J

DRA: 18

Science

Strategy:

Infer/Predict

Word Count: 597