Penguin · Flightless southern divers that turned wings into flippers and ice edges into commute routes.
Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
LessMore
Last reviewed Sources & creditsMedia creditsMethodology
No. Galápagos penguins breed on the equator. African penguins nest on Namibian and South African islands. Antarctica holds the emperors and Adélies, not the whole family.
Tagged emperors have exceeded 500 m and stayed down more than 20 minutes. That is a seal-like performance on a bird lung.
Luc Jacquet’s 2005 film made Aptenodytes forsteri a global winter story. Scientists later argued the narration over-moralised a physiological commute.
About 19,000 African penguins were oiled near Cape Town. SANCCOB and volunteers ran one of the largest bird-rehab operations recorded.
The tight thermoregulatory huddle is an emperor (and some king) story. Burrowing little penguins and tree-nesting gentoos use different heat tricks.
Yes on a decadal clock. Purse-seine competition and shifting sardine/anchovy biomass cut South African colonies by large fractions since the 1950s peak.
Icons here are not a ranking of living animals as best. They are the Wikipedia-titled faces a later chapter can attach images to.
Stats are relative 0-100 marks inside this type, for comparison on the page, not a global scoreboard.
Ian Duffy from UK · CC BY 2.0
Deepest diver; midwinter male incubation.
Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri, Antarctica) is filed here as a dated individual, programme or portrayal -- not as a rank of the living animal.
“Icons teach constraints: law, habitat and methods matter as much as a famous face.”
Matti Blume · CC BY-SA 4.0
Sardine competitor and oil-spill patient.
African penguin (EN coastal, South Africa / Namibia) is filed here as a dated individual, programme or portrayal -- not as a rank of the living animal.
“Icons teach constraints: law, habitat and methods matter as much as a famous face.”
Herbert Ponting · Public domain
The Worst Journey in the World (1922) — emperor eggs in July dark.
Apsley Cherry-Garrard (1886–1959, United Kingdom) is filed here as a dated individual, programme or portrayal -- not as a rank of the living animal.
“Icons teach constraints: law, habitat and methods matter as much as a famous face.”
Jacquet documentary that minted the huddle as pop science.
March of the Penguins (2005, France / Antarctica) is filed here as a dated individual, programme or portrayal -- not as a rank of the living animal.
“Icons teach constraints: law, habitat and methods matter as much as a famous face.”
Mig Gilbert from Brighton · CC BY-SA 2.0
Oil and chick-bolstering rehab on the Benguela coast.
SANCCOB (1968–, South Africa) is filed here as a dated individual, programme or portrayal -- not as a rank of the living animal.
“Icons teach constraints: law, habitat and methods matter as much as a famous face.”
JJ Harrison ( https://www.jjharrison.com.au/ ) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Phillip Island parade — tourism that funds fox control.
Little penguin (Eudyptula, Australia / NZ) is filed here as a dated individual, programme or portrayal -- not as a rank of the living animal.
“Icons teach constraints: law, habitat and methods matter as much as a famous face.”
A loose noose · CC BY-SA 4.0
Fastest underwater burst among common species; growing at some sites.
Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua, Subantarctic) is filed here as a dated individual, programme or portrayal -- not as a rank of the living animal.
“Icons teach constraints: law, habitat and methods matter as much as a famous face.”
Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 3.0
Equatorial breeding tied to Cromwell Current cool water.
Galápagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus, Ecuador) is filed here as a dated individual, programme or portrayal -- not as a rank of the living animal.
“Icons teach constraints: law, habitat and methods matter as much as a famous face.”
Stats are relative 0–100 marks within this species, for comparison only.
Toggle icons on and off — every bar rescales to the leader of your selection.
CCAMLR allocations and penguin GPS tracks do not always share a grid. The argument is spatial, not only tonnage.
March of the Penguins sold pair-bond morals. Field papers describe energy budgets and ice distance.
Apex diurnal raptors whose stoops, territories and national emblems stretch from taiga cliffs to tropical canopy.
Overall 75 🦉Nocturnal raptors whose facial discs, silent flight and asymmetric ears turn darkness into a hunting map.
Overall 72 🐦New World nectar specialists that hover on figure-eight wings and migrate on a few grams of fat.
Overall 63 🦩Long-legged filter feeders whose bent bills and carotenoid diets turn alkaline lakes into pink cities.
Overall 52 🦜Zygodactyl hookbills whose social brains, mimicry and nest-cavity needs collide with the cage trade.
Overall 58 🪽Dynamic-soaring ocean birds whose metres-long wings and baited longlines now share the same latitudes.
Overall 58 🦢Tall wetland dancers whose red-crowned East Asian population is the atlas type and a conservation bottleneck.
Overall 53