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Penguins
Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a small portion of its population extending slightly north of the equator (within a quarter degree of latitude). Highly adapted for life in the ocean water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage and flippers for swimming. Most penguins feed on krill, fish, squid and other forms of sea life which they catch with their bills and swallow whole while swimming. A penguin has a spiny tongue and powerful jaws to grip slippery prey. They spend about half of their lives on land and the other half in the sea. The largest living species is the emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri''): on average, adults are about tall and weigh . The smallest penguin species is the little blue penguin (''Eudyptula minor''), also known as the fairy peng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African Penguin
The African penguin (''Spheniscus demersus''), also known as Cape penguin or South African penguin, is a species of penguin confined to southern African waters. It is the only penguin found in the Old World. Like all penguins, it is flightless, with a streamlined body and wings stiffened and flattened into flippers for a marine habitat. Adults weigh an average of and are tall. The species has distinctive pink patches of skin above the eyes and a black facial mask. The body's upper parts are black and sharply delineated from the white underparts, which are spotted and marked with a black band. The African penguin is a pursuit diver and feeds primarily on fish and squid. Once extremely numerous, the African penguin is now the rarest species of penguin classified as critically endangered, with its population declining rapidly due to a combination of several threats. It is a charismatic species and is popular with tourists. Other vernacular names of the species include black-foo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emperor Penguin
The emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri'') is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is Endemism in birds, endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in length and weighing from . Feathers of the head and back are black and sharply delineated from the white belly, pale-yellow breast and bright-yellow ear patches. Like all species of penguin, the emperor is flightless, with a streamlined body, and wings stiffened and flattened into flippers for a marine habitat. Its diet consists primarily of fish, but also includes crustaceans, such as krill, and cephalopods, such as squid. While hunting, the species can remain submerged around 20 minutes, diving to a depth of . It has several adaptations to facilitate this, including an unusually structured Hemoglobin, haemoglobin to allow it to function at low oxygen levels, solid bones to reduce barotrauma, and the ability to reduce its metabolism and shut down non-essential ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galápagos Penguin
The Galápagos penguin (''Spheniscus mendiculus'') is a penguin Endemism, endemic to the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador. It is the only penguin found north of the equator. Most inhabit Fernandina Island and the west coast of Isabela Island (Galápagos), Isabela Island. The cool waters of the Humboldt Current, Humboldt and Cromwell Currents allow it to survive despite the tropical latitude. The Galápagos penguin is one of the banded penguins, the other species of which live mostly on the coasts of Africa and mainland South America. Due to their warm environment, Galápagos penguins have developed techniques to stay cool. The feathers on their back, flippers, and head are black, and they have a white belly and a stripe looping from their eyes down to their neck and chin. Each penguin keeps only one mate, and breeds year-round. Because there is no soft areas to nest, their nests are typically in caves and crevices which also provide protection against predators and the harsh enviro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eudyptes
''Eudyptes'' is a genus of penguins whose members are collectively called crested penguins. The exact number of species in the genus varies between four and eight depending on the authority, and a Chatham Islands species became extinct in recent centuries. All are black and white penguins with yellow crests, red bills and eyes, and are found on Subantarctic islands in the world's southern oceans. All lay two eggs, but raise only one young per breeding season; the first egg laid is substantially smaller than the second. Taxonomy The genus ''Eudyptes'' was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816; the name is derived from the Ancient Greek words meaning "fine", and meaning "diver". The type species was designated as the western rockhopper penguin by George Robert Gray in 1840. The genus contains eight exant species: * Macaroni penguin, ''Eudyptes chrysolophus'' * Royal penguin, ''Eudyptes schlegeli'' * Northern rockhopper penguin, ''Eudyptes moseleyi' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snares Penguin
The Snares penguin (''Eudyptes robustus''; ), also known as the Snares crested penguin and the Snares Islands penguin, is a penguin from New Zealand. The species breeds on the Snares Islands, a group of islands off the southern coast of the South Island. It is a yellow-crested penguin, with a size of and a weight of . It has dark blue-black upper parts and white underparts. It has a bright yellow eyebrow-stripe which extends over the eye to form a drooping, bushy crest. It has bare pink skin at the base of its large red-brown bill. The species nests in colonies ranging in size from around 10 nests to around 1200, under forest cover or the open. The main colonies are located on North East Island; other colonies are established on Broughton Island as well as the rocky Western Chain. The Snares penguin's main prey is krill, supplemented by squid and small fish. The species is rated as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as its breeding ran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinstrap Penguin
The chinstrap penguin (''Pygoscelis antarcticus'') is a species of penguin that inhabits a variety of islands and shores in the Southern Pacific and the Antarctic Oceans. Its name stems from the narrow black band under its head, which makes it appear as if it were wearing a black helmet. Other common names include ringed penguin, bearded penguin, and stonecracker penguin, due to its loud, harsh call. Taxonomy This species was originally given the scientific name ''Aptenodytes antarctica'' by Johann Reinhold Forster in 1781, thereby placing it in the same genus as the king and emperor penguins. In 1990, Graham Turbott transferred this species into the genus ''Pygoscelis'', together with the Adélie and gentoo penguins. This gave it the new name ''P. antarctica''. However, this is an orthographic error due to the disagreement in Latin grammar between ''antarctica'' and its assigned genus. The corrected form, ''P. antarcticus'', is the currently accepted name for this species. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spheniscus
The banded penguins are penguins that belong to the genus ''Spheniscus''. There are four living species, all with similar banded plumage-patterns. They are sometimes also known as "jack-ass penguins" due to their loud locator-calls sounding similar to a donkey braying. Common traits include a band of black that runs around their bodies bordering their black dorsal coloring, black beaks with a small vertical white band, distinct spots on their bellies, and a small patch of unfeathered or thinly feathered skin around their eyes and underdeveloped fluff sack that can be either white or pink. All members of this genus lay eggs and raise their young in nests situated in burrows or in natural depressions in the earth. Systematics Banded penguins belong to the genus ''Spheniscus'', which was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the African penguin (''Spheniscus demersus'') as the type species. The genus name ''Spheniscus'' is derived from the An ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Penguins
Penguin, Penguins are birds in the Family (biology), family Spheniscidae in the Monotypic taxon, monotypic Order (biology), order Sphenisciformes. They inhabit high-productivity marine habitats, almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere; the only species to occur north of the Equator is the Galapagos penguin. The only group of birds other than the ratites to be entirely flightless, penguins are extremely adapted to their aquatic lifestyle, with a streamlined shape that minimizes drag, Countershading, countershaded dark-and-white plumage, dense bones, powerful flippers, and insulating feathers that allow them to withstand very low temperatures on land and in water. There are currently 18 extant species of penguins recognised by the International Ornithologists' Union, distributed among six genera. Many species of fossil penguins are known from the Paleocene onwards; however, their exact number and taxonomy are unsettled due to ongoing discoveries. Conventions Conservatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aptenodytes
The genus ''Aptenodytes'' contains two extant species of penguins collectively known as "the great penguins". Etymology The name "Aptenodytes" is a composite of Ancient Greek elements, "ἀ-πτηνο-δύτης" (without-wings-diver). Taxonomy * King penguin, ''Aptenodytes patagonicus'' **''Aptenodytes patagonicus patagonicus'' **''Aptenodytes patagonicus halli'' * Emperor penguin, ''Aptenodytes forsteri'' * Ridgen's penguin (''Aptenodytes ridgeni''), an extinct species known from fossil bones of Early or Late Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58molecular data have shown the genus ''Aptenodytes'' to be basal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flightless Bird
Flightless birds are birds that cannot Bird flight, fly, as they have, through evolution, lost the ability to. There are over 60 extant species, including the well-known ratites (ostriches, emus, cassowary, cassowaries, Rhea (bird), rheas, and Kiwi (bird), kiwis) and penguins. The smallest flightless bird is the Inaccessible Island rail (length 12.5 cm, weight 34.7 g). The largest (both heaviest and tallest) flightless bird, which is also the largest living bird in general, is the common ostrich (2.7 m, 156 kg). Many domesticated birds, such as the domestic chicken and domestic duck, have lost the ability to fly for extended periods, although their ancestral species, the red junglefowl and mallard, respectively, are capable of extended flight. A few particularly bred birds, such as the Broad Breasted White turkey, have become totally flightless as a result of selective breeding; the birds were bred to grow massive breast meat that weighs too much for the bird's wings ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pygoscelis
The genus ''Pygoscelis'' ("rump-legged") contains three living species of penguins collectively known as "brush-tailed penguins". Taxonomy Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA evidence suggests the genus split from other penguins around 38 million years ago, about 2 million years after the ancestors of the genus '' Aptenodytes''. In turn, the Adelie penguins split off from the other members of the genus around 19 million years ago. ;Extant species A 2020 study found that the gentoo penguin may actually comprise a species complex of 4 similar but genetically distinct species: the northern gentoo penguin (''P. papua''), the southern gentoo penguin (''P. ellsworthi''), the eastern gentoo penguin (''P. taeniata''), and the newly-described South Georgia gentoo penguin (''P. poncetii''). However, in 2021 the International Ornithological Congress recognized these as being subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eudyptula
The genus ''Eudyptula'' ("good little diver") contains two species of penguin, found in southern Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand (including the Chatham Islands). They are commonly known as the little penguin, little blue penguin, or, in Australia, fairy penguin. In the language of the Māori people of New Zealand, little penguins are known as . For many years, a white-flippered form of the little penguin found only in North Canterbury, New Zealand was considered either a separate species, '' Eudyptula albosignata'', or just a subspecies, ''Eudyptula minor albosignata''. Analysis of mtDNA revealed that ''Eudyptula'' falls instead into two groups: a western one, found along the southern coast of Australia and the Otago region of New Zealand, and another found in the rest of New Zealand. These two groups are now considered full species: ''Eudyptula novaehollandiae'' in Australia and Otago, and '' Eudyptula minor'' elsewhere. ''E. novaehollandiae'' probably arrived in New Zeal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
