PENGUIN

Gentoo penguins on Wiencke Island, Antarctica (order Sphenisciformes), any of the flightless marine birds of the family Spheniscidae. They are limited in distribution to the Southern Hemisphere. Although a few penguins inhabit temperate regions and one, the Glapagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus), lives at the Equator, the majority of the 18 species breed on islands in subantarctic waters. any member of Sphenisciformes, an order of flightless marine birds containing one family, Spheniscidae. Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) Of all birds, penguins are the most fully adapted to water and extreme cold. Penguins are flightless and clumsy on land but are swift and agile swimmers. They breed on islands in the subantarctic and on cool coasts of Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and South America. Only the Adlie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) and the emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri; see photograph) reach Antarctica itself; the Galpagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus) is confined to the tropics off South America. The Adlie, the best-known penguin, has, like the others, a dark back and a white belly. The species differ mainly in head pattern and in size, from 40 cm (16 inches) in the little blue, or fairy, penguin (Eudyptula minor) to almost 120 cm (4 feet) in the emperor penguin. Sexes are alike in size and plumage. At sea for weeks at a time, flocks of penguins feed on fish, squid, and crustaceans. In turn, penguins are the prey of leopard seals and killer whales. Some species migrate long distances inland to ancestral nesting colonies. The eggs, usually one or two, are incubated in turns by both parents, one remaining on the nest while the other goes off to feed. Young penguins are fed by regurgitation and are often tended in crches, or kindergartens. Additional reading John Sparks and Tony Soper, Penguins, 2nd ed. (1987); and George Gaylord Simpson, Penguins: Past and Present (1976), are well-illustrated books. J.T. Emlen and R.L. Penney, Distance Navigation in the Adlie Penguin, Ibis, 106:417431 (1964), is a short technical paper concerned with long-range movements. R.L. Penney, Territorial and Social Behaviour in the Adlie Penguin, in Oliver L. Austin, Jr., Antarctic Bird Studies (1968), pp. 83131, reviews many studies of the behaviour of this species. Jean Prvost, cologie du Manchot empereur, Aptenodytes forsteri Gray (1961), is a detailed study, in French, of the largest penguin species. Also of interest is L.E. Richdale, Sexual Behavior in Penguins (1951). George Gaylord Simpson, Fossil Penguins, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 87:199 (1946), is a basic work on the evolution of penguins. Jean Prevost The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica