The gentoo penguin ( ) (''Pygoscelis papua'') is a

penguin 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 sm ...

species (or possibly a

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

) in the genus ''

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 milli ...

'', most closely related to the

Adélie penguin The Adélie penguin (''Pygoscelis adeliae'') is a species of penguin common along the entire coast of the Antarctic continent, which is the only place where it is found. It is the most widespread penguin species, and, along with the emperor peng ...

(''P. adeliae'') and the

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 a ...

(''P. antarcticus''). The earliest scientific description was made in 1781 by

Johann Reinhold Forster Johann Reinhold Forster (; 22 October 1729 – 9 December 1798) was a German Reformed pastor and naturalist. Born in Tczew, Dirschau, Pomeranian Voivodeship (1466–1772), Pomeranian Voivodeship, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (now Tczew, Po ...

with a type locality in the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

. The species calls in a variety of ways, but the most frequently heard is a loud trumpeting, which the bird emits with its head thrown back.

Names

The application of "gentoo" to the penguin is unclear. '' Gentoo'' was an Anglo-Indian term to distinguish

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

s from Muslims. The English term may have originated from the Portuguese ''gentio'' ("pagan,

gentile ''Gentile'' () is a word that today usually means someone who is not Jewish. Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, have historically used the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is used as a synony ...

"). Some speculate that the white patch on the bird's head was thought to resemble a

turban A turban (from Persian language, Persian دولبند‌, ''dolband''; via Middle French ''turbant'') is a type of headwear based on cloth winding. Featuring many variations, it is worn as customary headwear by people of various cultures. Commun ...

. It may also be a variation of another name for this bird, "Johnny penguin", with Johnny being the Spanish counterpart of and sounding vaguely like gentoo. The Johnny rook, a predator, is likely named after the Johnny penguin. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''papua'' is a

misnomer A misnomer is a name that is incorrectly or unsuitably applied. Misnomers often arise because something was named long before its correct nature was known, or because an earlier form of something has been replaced by a later form to which the nam ...

; in the original description,

, a naturalist who had circumnavigated the world with Captain

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

, mistakenly assumed that the species occurred in Papua (

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

), the closest gentoos being over 6000 km to the south (on

Macquarie Island Macquarie Island is a subantarctic island in the south-western Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. It has been governed as a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1880. It became a Protected areas of Tasmania, Tasmania ...

). No penguins are found in New Guinea. Others trace the error to a "possibly fraudulent claim" in 1776 by French naturalist

Pierre Sonnerat Pierre Sonnerat (18 August 1748 – 31 March 1814) was a French naturalist, colonial administrator, writer and explorer. He described numerous species of plants and animals on his travels and is honoured in the genus ''Sonneratia'' and in other ...

, who also alleged a Papuan location for the

king penguin The king penguin (''Aptenodytes patagonicus'') is the second largest species of penguin, smaller than but somewhat similar in appearance to the emperor penguin. King penguins mainly eat lanternfish, squid, and krill. On foraging trips, king pen ...

despite never having been to the island himself.

Taxonomy

The gentoo penguin is one of three species in the genus ''Pygoscelis''.

Mitochondria A mitochondrion () is an organelle found in the cells of most eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is us ...

l and

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics * Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

evidence suggests the genus split from other penguins around 38 million years ago (Mya), about 2 million years after the ancestors of the genus ''

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). Taxon ...

''. In turn, the Adélie penguins split off from the other members of the genus around 19 Mya and the chinstrap and gentoo finally diverged around 14 Mya. There are 4

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

recognized by the

International Ornithological Congress International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

: Although the population on the

Kerguelen Islands The Kerguelen Islands ( or ; in French commonly ' but officially ', ), also known as the Desolation Islands (' in French), are a group of islands in the subantarctic, sub-Antarctic region. They are among the Extremes on Earth#Remoteness, most i ...

is tentatively included in ''taeniata'', it may also be a distinct subspecies. Before 2021, only two subspecies of the gentoo penguin had been recognised: ''P. p. papua'' (subantarctic gentoo) and the smaller ''P. p. ellsworthi'' (Antarctic gentoo). However, a 2020 study suggested that the gentoo penguin be split into a

of four morphologically similar but separate species: the northern gentoo penguin (''P. papua

sensu ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

stricto''), the southern gentoo penguin (''P. ellsworthi''), the eastern gentoo penguin (''P. taeniata'') and the newly described South Georgia gentoo penguin (''P. poncetii''). The International Ornithological Congress incorporated the results of this study in 2021, but relegated the newly recognized or newly described species to subspecies of ''P. papua''.

Description

The gentoo penguin is easily recognised by the wide, white stripe extending like a

bonnet A bonnet is a variety of headgear, hat or cap. Specific types of headgear referred to as "bonnets" may include Native American *War bonnet, feathered headgear worn as an earned military decoration by high-ranking Plains Indians United King ...

across the top of its head and its bright orange-red bill. It has pale whitish-pink, webbed feet and a fairly long tail – the most prominent tail of all penguin species. Chicks have grey backs with white fronts. As the gentoo penguin waddles along on land, its tail sticks out behind, sweeping from side to side, hence the scientific name ''Pygoscelis'', which means "rump-tailed". Falkland Islands Penguins 45

Gentoo penguins can reach a length of , making them the third-largest species of penguin after the

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 fr ...

and the

. Males have a maximum weight around just before

moulting In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is a process by which an animal casts off parts of its body to serve some beneficial purpose, either at ...

and a minimum weight of about just before mating. For females, the maximum weight is just before moulting, but their weight drops to as little as when guarding the chicks in the nest. Birds from the north are on average heavier and longer than the southern birds. Southern gentoo penguins reach in length. They are the fastest underwater swimmers of all penguins, reaching speeds up to . Gentoos are well adapted to extremely cold and harsh climates.

Breeding

The breeding colonies of gentoo penguins are located on ice-free surfaces. Settlements can be located directly on the shoreline or considerably inland. They prefer shallow coastal areas and often nest between tufts of grass. In South Georgia, for example, breeding colonies are 2 km inland. In colonies farther inland, where the penguins nest in grassy areas, they shift location slightly yearly because the grass becomes trampled over time. Gentoos breed on many subantarctic islands. The main colonies are on the

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) is a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands known as the ...

and

; smaller colonies are found on:

Heard Islands The Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HIMI) is an Australian external territory comprising a volcanic group of mostly barren Antarctic islands, about two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica. The group's overall land ...

Crozet Islands The Crozet Islands (; or, officially, ''Archipel Crozet'') are a sub-Antarctic archipelago of small islands in the southern Indian Ocean. They form one of the five administrative districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. History ...

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

and the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martin in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica. ...

. The total breeding population is estimated to be over 600,000 birds. Nests are usually made from a roughly circular pile of stones and can be quite large, high and in diameter. The stones are jealously guarded, and their ownership can be the subject of noisy disputes and physical attacks between individuals. They are also prized by the females, even to the point that a male penguin can obtain the favours of a female by offering her a choice stone. Two eggs are laid, both weighing around . The parents share incubation, changing duty daily. The eggs hatch after 34 to 36 days. The chicks remain in the nests for around 30 days before joining other chicks in the colony and forming crèches. The chicks moult into subadult plumage and go out to sea at around 80 to 100 days.

Diet

Gentoos mainly live on

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s such as

krill Krill ''(Euphausiids)'' (: krill) are small and exclusively marine crustaceans of the order (biology), order Euphausiacea, found in all of the world's oceans. The name "krill" comes from the Norwegian language, Norwegian word ', meaning "small ...

and

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

, and

cephalopods A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan Taxonomic rank, class Cephalopoda (Greek language, Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral symm ...

. In February and March, crustaceans make up about 10% of the diet, but from March to June, it is about 75%. From June to October, grey rockcod (Lepidonotothen squamifrons) make up 90% of their diet. Cephalopods make up only 10% of the diet throughout the year. Gentoos are

opportunistic feeders Feeding is the process by which organisms, typically animals, obtain food. Terminology often uses either the suffixes -vore, -vory, or -vorous from Latin ''vorare'', meaning "to devour", or -phage, -phagy, or -phagous from Greek φαγε ...

, and around the Falklands are known to take roughly equal proportions of fish (''

Patagonotothen ''Patagonotothen'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes, belonging to the family Nototheniidae, the notothens or cod icefishes. They are native to the southeast Pacific Ocean, southern Atlantic Ocean and the Southern Ocean. Taxonomy ''Patagon ...

'' sp., '' Thysanopsetta naresi'', '' Micromesistius australis''),

squat lobster Squat lobsters are dorsoventrally flattened crustaceans with long tails held curled beneath the cephalothorax. They are found in the two superfamilies Galatheoidea and Chirostyloidea, which form part of the decapod infraorder Anomura, alongs ...

s ('' Munida gregaria'') and

squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, and Bathyteuthida (though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also ...

('' Loligo gahi'', '' Gonatus antarcticus'', '' Moroteuthis ingens''). Other prey include '' Channichthys rhinoceratus'' and

octopus An octopus (: octopuses or octopodes) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like oth ...

es.

Physiology

The gentoos' diet is high in salt, as they eat organisms with relatively the same salinity as seawater, which can lead to complications associated with high sodium concentrations in the body, especially for gentoo chicks. To counteract this, gentoos, as well as many other marine bird species, have a highly developed

salt gland The salt gland is an organ (anatomy), organ for excreting excess salt (chemistry), salts. It is found in the cartilaginous fishes subclass elasmobranchii (sharks, rays, and skates), seabirds, and some reptiles. Salt glands can be found in the r ...

located above their eyes that takes the high concentration of sodium within the body and produces a highly saline-concentrated solution that drips out of the body from the tip of the beak. Gentoo penguins do not store as much fat as Adélie penguins, their closest relative; gentoos require less energy investment when hunting because the net gain of energy after hunting is greater in gentoos than Adélies. As embryos, gentoos require a lot of energy to develop. Oxygen consumption is high for a developing gentoo embryo. As the embryo grows and requires more oxygen, consumption increases exponentially until the gentoo chick hatches. By then, the chick is consuming around 1800 ml O₂ per day.

Predators

In the sea,

leopard seal The leopard seal (''Hydrurga leptonyx''), also referred to as the sea leopard, is the second largest species of seal in the Antarctic (after the southern elephant seal). It is a top order predator, feeding on a wide range of prey including cep ...

sea lion Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. ...

s and

killer whale The orca (''Orcinus orca''), or killer whale, is a toothed whale and the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. The only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'', it is recognizable by its black-and-white-patterned body. A cosmopolit ...

s are all predators of the gentoo. On land, no predators of full-grown, healthy gentoo penguins exist.

Skua The skuas are a group of predatory seabirds with seven species forming the genus ''Stercorarius'', the only genus in the family Stercorariidae. The three smaller skuas, the Arctic skua, the long-tailed skua, and the pomarine skua, are called ...

s and

giant petrel Giant petrels form a genus, ''Macronectes'', from the family Procellariidae, which consists of two living and one extinct species. They are the largest birds in this family. Both extant species in the genus are native to the Southern Hemisphere. ...

s regularly kill many chicks and steal eggs; petrels kill injured and sick adult gentoos. Various other seabirds, such as the

kelp gull The kelp gull (''Larus dominicanus''), also known as the Dominican gull, is a gull that breeds on coasts and islands through much of the Southern Hemisphere. The nominate ''L. d. dominicanus'' is the subspecies found around South America, pa ...

and

snowy sheathbill The snowy sheathbill (''Chionis albus''), also known as the greater sheathbill, pale-faced sheathbill, and paddy, is one of two species of sheathbill. It is usually found on the ground. It is the only land bird native to the Antarctic continent. ...

, also snatch chicks and eggs. Skuas on King George Island have been observed attacking and injuring adult gentoo penguins in apparent territorial disputes.

Conservation status

The population of ''Pygoscelis papua'' in the maritime Antarctic is rapidly increasing. Due to regional climate changes, they colonise previously inaccessible territories southwards. , the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

lists the gentoo as least concerned with a stable population trend, although rapid declines in some key areas are believed to be driving a moderate overall decline in the species population. Examples include

Bird Island, South Georgia Bird Island () is long and wide, separated from the western end of South Georgia by Bird Sound. It is part of the British overseas territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, also claimed by Argentina as part of Tierra del Fueg ...

, where the population has fallen by two-thirds over 25 years. Many threats to this species, including pollution, hunting, fishing and human recreational activities continue to affect them.

In popular culture

The

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

distribution

Gentoo Linux Gentoo Linux (pronounced ) is a Linux distribution built using the Portage package management system. Unlike a binary software distribution, the source code is compiled locally according to the user's preferences and is often optimized for ...

is named after the gentoo penguin. This is a nod to the fact that the penguin is the fastest swimming penguin, as Gentoo Linux aims to be a high-performance

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

. The mascot for Linux in general is a penguin. The 2011 film adaption of Mr. Popper's Penguins features six gentoo penguins named Captain, Lovey, Loudy, Bitey, Stinky, and Nimrod.

Gallery

File:Gentoo-and-bird.jpg, Adult gentoo confronting a

southern giant petrel The southern giant petrel (''Macronectes giganteus''), also known as the Antarctic giant petrel, giant fulmar, stinker, and stinkpot, is a large seabird of the southern oceans. Its distribution overlaps broadly with the similar northern giant pe ...

(''Macronectes giganteus'') that has killed a chick File:Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua) on nest.jpg, Gentoo penguin on a nest File:Gentoo Penguin Swimming.jpg, A gentoo penguin swimming File:Gentoo penguin juvenile Petermann Island.jpg, Juvenile gentoos on

Petermann Island Petermann Island () is an island long, lying southwest of Hovgaard Island in the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica. Location Petermann Island is off the Graham Coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is in the Wilhelm Archipelago, southwest of ...

File:Pygoscelis papua on Carcass Island 1.jpg, Gentoo colony on

Carcass Island Carcass Island () is the largest of the West Point Island Group of the Falkland Islands. Description It lies north-west of West Falkland and south-east of the Jason Islands. It is in length, has a maximum width of , and is in area.

in the Falklands File:Gentoo and Magellanic Penguins (5560563634).jpg, Gentoo penguin leading a group of

Magellanic penguin The Magellanic penguin (''Spheniscus magellanicus'') is a South American penguin, breeding in coastal Patagonia, including Argentina, Chile, and the Falkland Islands, with some bird migration, migrating to Brazil and Uruguay, where they are occas ...

s (''Spheniscus magellanicus'') on Saunders Island File:GentooPenguinPredation.jpg, A

eating an adult gentoo

References

External links

70South – more info on the gentoo penguin

* ttp://www.pinguins.info www.pinguins.info: information about all species of penguins
Gentoo penguin images

Gentoo penguin webcam from the Antarctic
– worldwide first webcam with wild penguins; photo quality * {{Authority control

gentoo penguin The gentoo penguin ( ) (''Pygoscelis papua'') is a penguin species (or possibly a species complex) in the genus ''Pygoscelis'', most closely related to the Adélie penguin (''P. adeliae'') and the chinstrap penguin (''P. antarcticus''). The earl ...

Birds of Antarctica Birds of islands of the Atlantic Ocean Birds of subantarctic islands Birds of the Southern Ocean Fauna of Heard Island and McDonald Islands Fauna of the Crozet Islands Fauna of the Prince Edward Islands Flightless birds Fauna of Macquarie Island