Nyle Nims, age 10, of Ames, Iowa, for the question:

 What does a penguin eat?

Most penguins live where plants are scarce. The emperor penguin lives on the polar ice cap where there are no plants at all, not even mosses. So these cold climate birds must be meat eaters. And so they are. They eat the only meat available to them ‑ which is fish.

There are usually plenty of fish in the cold Antarctic waters. Small, silvery sardines abound and they form the penguin's favorite diet. The neat black and white birds stand on the icy shores just waiting for a school of sardines to go by. Then in they plunge.

Penguins are wonderful swimmers and divers. They swim under water for the catch. The squirming fish is swallowed whole. After dinner, the penguins come ashore. Each rests while he digests a tummy full of fish.