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