Penguins

Penguin Facts

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Subphylum: Vertebrata

Class: Aves

Order: Sphenisciformes (penguins)

Family: Spheniscidae

Genus and species: Six genera and nineteen living species, including Eudyptes chrysocome (rockhopper penguin), E. pachyrhynchus (Fiordland penguin), E. robustus (Snares penguin), E. sclateri (erect-crested penguin), E. chrysolophus (macaroni penguin), E. schlegeli (royal penguin); Spheniscus magellanicus (Magellanic penguin), S. humboldti (Humboldt penguin), S. mendiculus (Galápagos penguin), S. demersus (African penguin); Pygoscelis adeliae (Adélie penguin), P. antarcticus (chinstrap penguin), P. papua (gentoo penguin); Aptenodytes patagonicus (king penguin), A. forsteri (emperor penguin); Megadyptes antipodes (yellow-eyed penguin); Eudyptula minor (little penguin)

Geographical location: Along the coasts of Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, Peru, Argentina, and the Galápagos Islands

Habitat: Oceans and coasts in both cold and temperate latitudes

Gestational period: Incubation varies by species from thirty-three to sixty-four days

Life span: Twenty to thirty years

Special anatomy: Aerodynamic body shape; flippers; webbed feet; short, stiff, overlapped feathers; spiked tongue

Penguins are flightless marine birds that reside only in the Southern Hemisphere. They do not inhabit the Arctic. There are nineteen recognized species of penguins. Six species—the Adélie, gentoo, chinstrap, rockhopper, king, and emperor penguins—live in the cold environment of the Antarctic region. The rest live in subantarctic and temperate regions. The macaroni, Fiordland, Snares, erect-crested, yellow-eyed, little, southern rockhopper, and royal penguins live off the coasts of New Zealand and Australia and nearby islands. The Magellanic and Humboldt penguins live off the coast of South America. The African penguin lives off the southern coast of Africa, and the Galápagos penguin is native to the Galápagos Islands. The northern rockhopper penguin (Eudyptes moseleyi), lives on islands in the southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Penguins spend much of their lives in the ocean, coming to shore mainly to breed.

Physical Characteristics

All penguins are black with white undersides. This color pattern acts as camouflage when the penguin is swimming, protecting it from predators. Underneath, the white belly blends with the bright water surface; from above, the black back is indistinguishable from the dark water. Penguin species can be grouped according to common characteristics. Banded penguins have black-and-white stripe patterns on their chests and heads. The crested penguins all have bright yellow or orange plumes on their heads. Brushtail penguins have long, stiff tail feathers. The king and emperor penguins have bright yellow and orange chest and head patches, and the yellow-eyed penguin has a yellow crown. The little penguin’s feathers are bluish.

The emperor penguin is the largest, with an average height of 1.15 meters (3.77 feet) and a weight of up to 40 kilograms (88.2 pounds). The little penguin—also known variously as the blue penguin, the little blue penguin, or the fairy penguin—is the smallest, standing about 33 centimeters (13 inches) tall and weighing about 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds). All penguins have solid, heavy bones that help them dive deeply into the water. They have streamlined bodies that move smoothly through the water as they pump their strong, flipperlike wings and steer using their webbed feet and tails as rudders. Penguins can hold their breath for many minutes at a time, and they frequently leap out of the water, porpoiselike, to take in more air.

On land, penguins walk with an awkward sideways waddle. Because their short legs are set back on their bodies, they stand erect and must hold out their flippers for balance. Penguins often toboggan themselves across ice and snow by flopping on their bellies and pushing with their flippers and feet.

Penguin feathers are tiny and stiff, overlapping to form a waterproof coat. Underneath, a layer of down helps trap warm air and protect the penguin from the cold water and wind. Penguins of the Antarctic region have an insulating layer of blubber. Those in temperate climates often have to cool themselves down by ruffling their feathers and holding out their flippers. They can control the flow of blood to their unfeathered areas, such as their feet and under their flippers, which helps them regulate their body temperature. Penguins preen their feathers regularly to spread waterproofing oil from a gland near the tail.

Feeding Behavior and Enemies

Penguins are carnivores. They eat many types of small sea creatures, including fish, squid, and krill. They snatch their food quickly with their sharp beaks. A penguin's tongue and upper palate are covered with stiff spines that grip the slippery food and assist in moving it toward the throat. Penguins make several catches per dive, swallowing the prey whole along with some seawater. They have specialized salt glands above each eye that help them drain the extra salt they ingest.

Penguins usually enter and exit the water in large groups to protect themselves from predators who often lurk near the shore. Their main enemies are sea lions, leopard seals, and orcas. On land, adult penguins are safe, but petrels, skuas, gulls, and sheathbills hunt babies and eggs.

Reproduction

Most penguins follow an annual breeding cycle that begins in the spring, but timing varies according to species and climatic conditions. The Galápagos penguin will breed any month that the water temperature is right, and sometimes twice a year. Emperors begin their cycle in autumn, so there is a good food supply when their chicks hatch in spring. King penguins only reproduce twice every three years because they follow a fifteen-month cycle. Little penguins have the shortest breeding cycle, lasting around fifty days.

Some penguins nest on the shore, while others travel many miles inland to reach their rookeries. Most species return to the same rookeries each year. Penguins are social, and one rookery may have thousands of penguins in closely spaced nests. They often squabble over nesting materials, mates, and territory. Nests are built of grass or stones on the ground, in rock crevices, or in burrows. Typically, a male will engage in an ecstatic display to attract a female, pointing his beak, flapping his flippers, and squawking. Penguins are usually monogamous within a single mating season. Among some species, particularly gentoos, chinstraps, and Adélies, it is common for pairs to remain monogamous for multiple mating seasons. Such established mating pairs will greet each other affectionately in subsequent years.

Most species lay two eggs per clutch, and the parents take turns incubating the eggs for a few weeks at a time while the other leaves to feed. The incubating parent does not eat and often loses a great deal of weight. Each penguin has a brood patch, an area of bare skin on its lower belly that allows for better heat transfer to the eggs. Incubation varies from five weeks for the little penguin to nine weeks for the emperor.

The king and emperor penguins are exceptions to the nesting rule. They lay only one egg, which they cradle on their feet instead of building a nest and cover with a flap of skin to keep it warm. King penguins also take turns incubating, but among emperor penguins, only the male incubates.

Chicks are born down-covered, except for emperor chicks, which are naked. The parents brood them while they are young and feed them regurgitated food. When the chicks get too large for brooding, they huddle in crèches while their parents leave to hunt for food. When the chicks are grown and go off on their own, the parents molt. They cannot go into the water without their full coats of feathers, so they fast during this two- to four-week period.

New Discoveries and Challenges

In 2023, significant new discoveries of ancient penguins were made in New Zealand. These indicated that millions of years in the past, the island was home to substantial habitations of penguins. Researchers located what are believed to be some of the largest and smallest penguins on record. Fossilized remains of a giant penguin specie named Kumimanu fordycei were uncovered, indicating an estimated weight of 330 pounds (150 kilograms). A second large penguin specie, Petradyptes stonehousei, was also uncovered. At 110 pounds (50 kilograms), this species was still significantly larger than modern penguins.

Scientists also discovered an extinct type of penguin smaller than even the most diminutive species which exist today. This newly discovered penguin, now named Eudyptula wilsonae, is believed to have been smaller than the Korora penguin. At approximately two pounds, the Kokora is the smallest penguin species currently in existence.

Penguins increasingly faced challenges in the twenty-first century as the threat of climate change continued to grow. The emperor and Adélie penguins, in particular, suffered from the effects of climate change as those species depend on sea ice, which has been disappearing at increasing rates, for food and breeding grounds. Research conducted by the World Wildlife Foundation in 2008 revealed that approximately one-half of all emperor penguins and three-quarters of Adélie penguins would likely disappear by 2060 if global average temperatures continued to rise.

Principal Terms

crèche: penguin chicks grouped together for warmth and safety

krill: small, shrimplike sea creatures

molt: to lose feathers and grow new ones

rookery: a nesting penguin colony

Bibliography

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