this post was submitted on 26 May 2025
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Isn't it primarily fat rather than feathers?
They probably have some fat as well, but penguins are mostly insulated by their special feathers, which are adapted to prevent the cold water from actually reaching the skin.
Nah, you can look at pics of penguins that lost their feathers. Their body shape is from the fat.
They definitely do but my point was that the actual volume is from the fat so they are very much fat chonkers. The feathers are laid on top of each other to be waterproof so they don't really make up volume. You can check the pic below for reference (I am not sure how to add embed sorry).
Penguin feathers
I am not sure which would he primary insulator but fat definitely helps a lot and pretty commonly found in other animals for the same purpose. You can also see some featherless penguins in zoo are given cute little jackets lol.
their circulatory system is also pretty adapted for them, thier blood vessels usually can do countercurrent exchange of heat, rete mirabilis, this is common in cold adapted creatures. so they technically dont lose heat when it goes near the skin surface.
penguins do have one of the densest feathers per square centimeter of any bird.