No need to chew! King penguin chicks can swallow their food whole. In fact, all penguin species swallow their fish whole because they do not have teeth. Instead of teeth, penguins have a special adaptation inside their beak called denticles—barb-like structures on the roof of the mouth that point inward to help grasp and guide the fish down the throat. Penguin chicks are fed a slurry of regurgitated fish by their parents, but typically a hand-raised king penguin chick will begin eating small who

As demonstrated in this video, penguins swallow their food whole. Penguins don’t have teeth but they do have soft spines on their tongues and palate called papillae. The papillae face the back of their mouths and help to guide slippery fish down their throats as they feed. Each of our African penguins eats around one pound of fish per day. | New York Aquarium

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BABY PENGUINS: Pearl and Squirt hatched in January at a Kentucky zoo — and are getting more adorable every day. 🐧 | CBS News