the Adélie. Most species don’t even hang out on ice.
12 The African penguin, as its name suggests, can be
found on southern African coastlines. The Humboldt
penguin, meanwhile, likes to build nests on high
ground along the rocky beaches of Chile and Peru.
13 On New Zealand’s South Island, the yellow-eyed
penguin, also known as the Hoiho, prefers forested
or grassy locations. The least social of penguins, they
space their nests well apart and hidden from each
other. 14 The South Island’s mountainous, dramatic
southwestern coast is home to breeding colonies of
the Fiordland penguin, though the animals don’t
maintain residence there year-round. 15 In August,
a study published in PLOS ONE revealed that adult
Fiordlands swim more than 1,500 miles from the
colonies to speciic feeding grounds in the Southern
Ocean, covering sometimes more than 4,000 miles
total, once the breeding season is over. 16 These
epic journeys, called pre-molt dispersals, are crucial
for survival. During breeding and chick-rearing on
land, when foraging opportunities are restricted,
Fiordlands, like other penguins, can lose 50 percent
of their body mass. 17 After chick-rearing, the birds
have about two to three months to head far out to
sea — the pre-molt dispersal — and eat as much as
they can to put weight back on before what’s called
catastrophic molting. 18 That’s not as bad as it
sounds: Unlike gradual molting, which most other
birds experience, penguins’ old feathers are rapidly
shed and replaced. That “catastrophic” speed is
important because, during this weekslong transition,
the birds’ coats are not waterproof and they must
stay on land, going hungry. 19 Those feathers are
uniquely adapted for swimming in chilly water. While
there is some variation among species, penguin
feathers have features such as tiny interlocking barbs
to trap air, hinder heat loss and repel water.
20 In June, a study of feathers from nine penguin
species found other unique microstructures, now
associated with coloration, probably irst evolved in
the marine birds for improved hydrodynamics. The
journal that published the paper? The Auk. DGemma Tarlach is senior editor at Discover.1 Penguins loom large in pop culture, but they were
once even bigger. Several extinct giant penguins, such
as human-sized Kumimanu biceae, described in 2017,
could have tipped the scales at more than 200 pounds.
2 Today, their sizes range from the blue penguin, just
over a foot tall, to the emperor penguin, nearly three
times as big. Regardless of size, all penguins have the
same body plan, including wings that have evolved
into ippers and dense bones to counter buoyancy.
3 Hard evidence of the very irst penguins is lacking.
However, based on a 2014 genetic study,
the lineage may have split off from their
closest relatives, a group of seabirds that
today includes albatrosses and petrels,
around 60 million years ago. 4 The limited
fossil evidence, though, suggests a deeper
past. Consider the oldest known penguin,
Waimanu manneringi, which lived about
61 million years ago in New Zealand.
5 In 2017, paleontologists found another
penguin nearby that was about as old. This
animal was different enough from W. manneringi to
suggest that the birds were already a diverse bunch.
That hints at an earlier emergence, perhaps more
than 66 million years ago, when T. re x was still
stomping around. 6 The roots of the word penguin
are also debated. But according to most dictionar-
ies, it derives from “pen gwyn,” the Welsh term for
“white head.” 7 The word originally described great
auks — a large, black-and-white, ightless aquatic
bird that once called the Northern Hemisphere home.
8 In the 16th century, The Golden Hind was exploring
South America’s Strait of Magellan when a Welsh
sailor aboard noticed a black-and-white aquatic bird.
Thinking it resembled an auk, he called it a penguin.
9 Great auks went extinct in the mid-19th century,
but their Welsh name lives on, forever associated with
a completely unrelated bird. Now that’s auk-ward.
10 Auks were limited to the North Atlantic, while
penguins are Southern Hemisphere-only animals —
almost. The territory of the endangered Galapagos
penguin straddles the equator. 11 You might
think of Antarctica as Penguin Central, but it’s the
exclusive home of only two species, the emperor andDISCOVER (ISSN 0274-7529, USPS# 555-190) is published monthly, except for combined issues in January/February and July/August. Vol. 39, no. 10. Published by Kalmbach Media Co., 21027 Crossroads Circle, P.O. Box
1612, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612. Periodical postage paid at Waukesha, WI, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to DISCOVER, P.O. Box 62320, Tampa, FL 33662-2320. Canada Publication
Agreement # 40010760. Back issues available. All rights reserved. Nothing herein contained may be reproduced without written permission of Kalmbach Media Co., 21027 Crossroads Circle, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI
53187-1612. Printed in the U.S.A. FROM TOP: GEMMA TARLACH; BRYAN AND CHERRY ALEXANDER/NATUREPL.COM; TARLACH; MARY EVANS PICTURE LIBRARY; RECONSTRUCTION BY G. MAYR/SENCKENBERG RESEARCH INSTITUTEPenguins BY GEMMA TARLACH
20 Things You Didn’t Know About ...
74 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
From top right:
Emperor penguins
gather on the Ross
Ice Shelf; elsewhere
in Antarctica, an
emperor chick
begs for food; the
African penguin
lives along near-
tropical coastlines;
the great auk,
however, is now
extinct; and so is
the human-sized
Kumimanu biceae.