Penguins retain the heat by tucking in their flippers close to their bodies which help them to reduce the surface area for the heat loss. As we know that the dark colors absorb more heat than the light colors, penguin's dark skin which is black in color help them to absorb more heat from the sunlight. There are different types of penguins, out of which King and Emperor penguins are able to tip up their feet, and rest their entire weight on a tripod of the heels and tail, to reduce the contact with the icy cool surface. Hence there will be a reduction in the heat loss.

Overheating can be a problem to penguins both in land and water. The penguins can cool down by moving to shaded areas and by panting (like dogs). Penguins can ruffle their plumage, this breaks up the insulating air layer next to the skin, so releasing the warm air and cooling them down. Penguins can increase their heat loss by holding the flippers away from the body.

The circulatory system of penguins adjusts to conserve or release heat to keep the temperature constant. For Example: To conserve heat, blood flowing to the flippers and legs transfers its heat to blood that is leaving the flippers and legs. This kind of heat exchange is known as 'counter current heat exchange' (as explained earlier) which enables the heat to be maintained in the body rather than reaching the legs or flippers. If the body becomes too warm, blood vessels in the skin gets wider, bringing heat from within the body to the surface and hence it can be lost.