Tom Crean Book – 'Crean – The Extraordinary Life Of An Irish Hero'

Rediscover an Irish Hero

Tom Crean Book – 'Crean – The Extraordinary Life Of An Irish Hero'

Rediscover an Irish Hero
What Do Penguins Sound Like in Antarctica? | Hear Antarctica KS1/KS2 and 3rd-6th class

Tom Crean's Amazing Antarctica › Hear Antarctica › Penguins

What Do Penguins Sound Like in Antarctica?

Tom Crean, your Antarctic guide

Whenever we camped out near the coast, the penguins were never far away — and they were never quiet! Press play below to hear what we heard.

Penguins on the ice
Listen

Penguins were one of the noisiest neighbours Tom Crean and the other explorers had in Antarctica! Colonies of thousands of penguins made a constant chorus of trumpeting, braying, and squawking calls — especially Adelie penguins and Emperor penguins, both of which Tom would have encountered on his expeditions.

Did you know? Emperor penguin chicks make a different sound to their parents so that, even among thousands of birds, a parent can find its own chick just by listening for its call.

Explorers on early expeditions often wrote about how surprising the noise of a penguin colony was — some described it as sounding more like a farmyard than anything they expected to hear at the bottom of the world.

Try It Yourself Can you copy the trumpeting sound of an Emperor penguin? Try making a loud, honking "hoo-hoo" sound. Now imagine standing next to thousands of penguins all calling at once — how loud would that be?

Discover More about Tom

Did you know Tom sailed all the way to Antarctica three times? On his journeys he saw and heard even more amazing things than what you've just explored here. You can read all about his adventures in Tom the Mighty Explorer.

Discover the Book →

A beautifully illustrated introduction to polar exploration for children aged 6–10 — a lovely companion to KS1/KS2 topics on famous explorers and habitats.

← All Sounds Next: Seals →
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