A Penguin Parade Trivia Quiz

Also known by the Maori name korora, the little blue penguin is exactly that, with feathers that appear blue when they reflect light at the correct angle. It is the smallest species of penguin, both in height and in weight, about a quarter as tall as an emperor penguin, and a twentieth the weight. Those numbers suggest its streamlined shape, and its generic name, Eudyptula, means little diver, reflecting its excellent swimming ability. There are currently considered to be two species of Eudyptula, with the population in Australia, commonly called fairy penguins, now classified as a different species based on genetic analysis. Many sources, however, treat the two as a single species with a couple of subspecies (exactly how many depending on who you ask). The Australian population has plumage which is a brighter blue than that of the New Zealand birds.

Little blue penguins are known for spending their days at sea, then returning to the shores where they have built their nests at night. The resulting 'penguin parade' each evening has been developed as a major tourist attraction in some areas. It has been suggested that this group movement is a protective behaviour developed as a defense against the carnivores that would love to feast on them as they make their way home. The lower risk of such attacks in New Zealand might then explain why those penguins do not produce the same displays.

Their life expectancy in the wild is around 20 years, and the IUCN classifies them as having a low level of threat to their survival.

Spheniscus mendiculus is a species of penguin that is only found in Ecuador's Galápagos Islands. This makes it the only species found north of the equator (if only slightly - the equator runs through the island group) and one of the few that is found in equatorial rather than polar regions. They are supported by the cold waters of the Humboldt Current, flowing northwards along the west coast of South America.

Like the other banded penguins, Galápagos penguins are known for their call, a loud noise that is often compared to a donkey's bray. The penguin has a black head, with a white stripe that runs from behind the eye around the base of the ear and the chin, with the two sides meeting under the chin. The white chest has two bands crossing it from side to side, connecting to the black feathers on the back, with the lower band also running down the leg.

In the wild, these penguins live around 10 years. The IUCN Red Book lists them as an Endangered Species, meaning they are very likely to become extinct in the wild in the foreseeable future.

Eudyptes robustus is another penguin named for the place where it breeds, New Zealand's Snares Islands. Its Maori name is Pokotiwha. Like other members of this genus, they have black feathers on their backs, a white belly, and a yellow crest. In their case, the crest has two parts, one on each side of the head, extending from the base of the beak to the back of the head.

Snares penguins nest in close-packed colonies (with all of the 25,000 estimated breeding pairs coming together on a few small uninhabited islands), with the most desirable nesting sites being near the coast and close to a stream, which can be used as a drinking source. These may be between rocks, or under the cover of trees, depending on the location. The penguins dig shallow holes (or just use an existing cavity) that are lined with grass and leaves, or other suitable material, before a rim of mud is added to raise it above the level of the ground. When an area has run short of vegetation, new nests move progressively further inland.

Like other Eudyptes, Snares penguins lay two eggs at a time. The first one laid is smaller than the second one, and hatches later - this chick rarely survives. While this is common in the genus, the differential is particularly large for the Snares penguin, the second egg being nearly twice the size of the first.

Being small, Snares penguins have a diet composed mostly of krill, with lesser amounts of small fish and cephalopods. They have a life expectancy in the wild of around 11 years, and (because of their very limited breeding area) are classified by the IUCN as vulnerable to extinction.

Eudyptes pachyrhynchus (tawaki in Maori) is a species that previously ranged over most of New Zealand (so is sometimes still called the New Zealand crested penguin), but which now is restricted to the southern coast of the South Island, especially the region known as Fiordland, and Stewart Island. This reduction in territory occurred with the arrival of Polynesian settlers on the island, who hunted the penguins for food in the areas where they settled. While they are no longer hunted, human activity can cause them to flee their nests, leaving chicks unprotected. Dogs, cats, rats, and other introduced species also act as predators.

Fiordland penguins closely resemble their cousins from Snares Island, but are slightly larger in both height and weight, and have no bare skin around the base of the beak where their yellow crest starts. They also nest near the coast, but the steep cliffs in most of their range means that nests are more spread out.

The diet and hunting technique of these penguins varies according to where their nest is located in the fiord. Those who are nearest the sea end of the fiord dive deeper than those that live nearer the land end, using the open sea rather than confining themselves to the waters of the fiord. the balance of various components of their diet (krill, cephalopods and fish) varies accordingly, but almost all of them have a higher percentage of cephalopods, primarily squid, in their diet than is the case for the Snapes penguins, and a correspondingly reduced amount of krill.

Because human activity near the birds is quite disruptive to their survival, relatively little research has been done on them as regards life expectancy - although chick survival is definitely an issue. Nevertheless, the IUCN has rated them as Near Threatened, despite their low numbers.

Eudyptes sclateri is another crested penguin endemic to New Zealand, breeding only on the Bounty and Antipodes Islands, two of the nine groups south of the main islands that are claimed as part of New Zealand. The Bounty Islands, with a combined area of about 50 hectares (120 acres), are small granite outcrops about 700 km (430 miles) southeast of the South Island; the volcanic Antipodes Islands are a further 200 km (about 125 miles) south. The isolated location means that little study has been made of their nesting and breeding habits, or their diet.

They are the largest of the crested penguins, with a sturdy build that helps reduce heat loss in the icy waters where they hunt. If we were ranking the penguins by weight, these would be placed several places higher up the list, as they are considered the fourth-heaviest penguin, on average - which would place them between the macaroni and gentoo penguins.

What little information has been collected over the years indicates that populations have reduced dramatically in the last hundred years, and erect-crested penguins are currently listed as endangered by the IUCN.

Spheniscus magellanicus is a South American resident, especially in their breeding region of Patagonia, where Magellan spotted them in 1520. It is the most numerous of the banded penguins, and currently its IUCN conservation status is Least Concern. They are believed to live up to 20 years in the wild, but some have lived much longer in zoos. In 2022 the San Francisco Zoo's Captain Eo died at the age of 40.

Adult Magellanic penguins have two black bands on their white bellies, one near their neck (which makes the white band above it resemble a collar) and one which connects their black backs from under the wing, running up the sides and connecting across the chest, making a shape something like a horseshoe. The head is black, with the white stripe that circles their throats extending up around the back of the ears and then forward to cover the eyes.

Because Magellanic penguins forage in a part of the ocean where the continental shelf is quite extensive, they have access to a plentiful food supply, with a significant amount of ocean fish in their diet. They swallow a lot of seawater as they hunt, and have special glands in their bodies that secrete the ingested salt and remove it from their systems.

During the breeding season (roughly September to March), they congregate in large numbers, with each nest taking up, on average, about 5 square metres (16 sq ft). Since that is calculated over the entire area, including spaces where no nests can be built, they are very close together where they are built. They lay two eggs, and (unlike the crested penguins) usually raise both chicks. Both parents share incubation duties, with the female taking first shift when the first egg is laid. The male takes over when the second egg has been laid, and they alternate in shifts of ten to fifteen days until the final egg has hatched, around six weeks after the start. They then feed their chicks (once every couple of days) for around a month, until they are ready to fend for themselves.

After the breeding season, the Magellanic penguins migrate north, feeding off the coast as far north as Peru (in the Pacific) and Brazil (in the Atlantic).

Eudyptes chrysolophus was first described in the 1830s, sighted near the Falkland Islands. As the species name (golden crest) says, it is a crested penguin, the tallest (but not the heaviest) of them. The word macaroni at the time was used pejoratively to describe a man who took great care of his appearance, often androgynous in dress. The macaroni penguin's crest is composed of long feathers, orange and yellow in colour, extending in two ridges from near the base of the beak to the nape of their neck. The bill is larger than in many penguins, and orange-brown in colour. The black of the back and head is sharply delineated from the white feathers of the belly.

Macaroni penguins are one of the most widely-distributed species of penguin, with breeding ground spread from Antarctica north through most of the sub-Antarctic region. It is estimated that there are over ten million breeding pairs spread through the region. The breeding grounds also serve as molting spots - once a year a macaroni penguin spends about a month shedding then regrowing all of its feathers. Since it cannot enter the water to find food during this time, it is quite vulnerable to land-based predators during this time. Despite their abundance, their numbers are actually significantly in decline, and they are considered Vulnerable by the IUCN.

The process of mating and incubation is similar to that of most other penguins, with both parents taking turns to be responsible for incubation while the other forages for food. Once the chick (usually only one of the two will be allowed to mature) the male takes over chick-tending (sometimes solo, sometimes sharing the load with other nearby dads) while the female fetches food, delivering it every day or two. After about two months the chicks have their full adult plumage, and are ready to head out on their own.

Pygoscelis papua was first described in the 1780s, in the Falkland Islands. The genus name literally means 'rump-legged', and the members of this genus (which includes the Adélie penguin and the chinstrap penguin) are often called brush-tailed penguins, because they have a long tail - and the gentoo's is the longest of them all. The specific name, suggesting they come from New Guinea, is a misnomer: the person who named them got it wrong. Their breeding grounds are on a number of sub-Antarctic islands, in ice-free spots that may be on the coast or inland. Their nests are formed from a circular arrangement of stones, which can be the source of conflict between males.

As for their common name, the origin of gentoo is obscure. Several suggestions are based on the fact that the bird has a white patch on its head that may, with some imagination, be thought to resemble a turban. This then could have led to the use of the term Anglo-Indians used to distinguish Hindus from Muslims. Or maybe it is a corruption of another name sometimes used for them, the Johnny penguin. Don't ask me why Johnny.

Because they are the third-largest species of penguin, and swim widely in the ocean around their islands (they are the fastest swimmers of all penguins, which extends their range), their diet has a lot more large items than is the case for their smaller relatives. The crustacean component, for example, is more likely to be a lobster than krill, and the fish to be an adult. In the winter months, crustaceans are the major component of their food, while fish predominate during the summer, with cephalopods a fairly constant 10% all year.

This is one species that is benefiting from climate change: as waters become warmer, they can extend their range further south, and numbers are actually increasing (although in some northern areas there has been marked local decrease), and the IUCN considers them to be of Least Concern.

Whether you are talking height or weight, Aptenodytes patagonicus is the second-largest species of penguin - hence their designation as king, ranking above most but under the emperor who is at the top of the heap. The species name indicates the location where they were first identified (Patagonia), but they can also be found on a number of islands in the sub-Antarctic region in both Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Some taxonomists consider there to be two separate species in the two oceans, other consider them to be conspecific.

The king penguin can be distinguished from the other penguins found in its area by its size (it is not only taller, but also significantly heavier). If it lived in the same area as the emperor penguin, the distinction would be harder to make, but these two similar-looking species do not occupy overlapping territories. The king penguin has a bright orange cheek patch, matching the mandible, and the top of its white belly fades through yellow to orange as it approaches the throat. The back feathers are more grey than black, but there is a clear black stripe around the boundary between back and belly.

Because of their size, it takes a king penguin chick much longer to mature than is the case for most smaller penguins - the breeding cycle starts around September with the adults molting before fattening themselves up in preparation for egg laying (a single pear-shaped egg) and incubation, and finishes when the chicks are fully grown, over a year later. This means that breeding grounds are nearly always full, with different batches of birds at different parts of the cycle.

King penguins were nearly wiped out in some areas due to their use as a fuel (!) by whalers who spent time on the islands that had little or no trees, and needed something to burn for heating and cooking. Not to mention the constant fires needed to boil whale blubber as its oil was being extracted, and the occasional snack. The current population of king penguins is thought to be around 2 million pairs, and growing - they are considered a Least Concern species by the IUCN.

Admit it, when you think penguin you picture one of these elegant chaps, standing over a metre tall (or around 4 feet), majestically waddling around the ice of Antarctica or playfully sliding across the ice on its belly. Aptenodytes forsteri look very like their fellow 'great penguin', the king penguin. Aside from size, the main difference is in the colour of their markings, with the emperor being more yellow than orange.

The life of the emperor penguin has been made widely familiar through documentaries such as 'March of the Penguins' and (slightly less accurately) 'Happy Feet'. On television, David Attenborough has presented multiple programs on them over the years. This means that their breeding pattern is well-known to most people. They are the only penguin species that breeds in Antarctica, and do so in large colonies, miles inland, where the males who incubate the eggs can share body heat and congregate to absorb warmth from the sun using their black backs. The female spends that two-month period returning to the sea to fatten up, before returning to give the male his chance to forage. They take shifts, fairly lengthy ones due to the distance that needs to be travelled back to the sea. After about two months the chicks start to join with each other to form groups called creches, which reduces the caring load on parents - only a few adults can supervise a large number of chicks. By mid-summer the chicks are ready to undertake the journey to the sea (much closer now, since the ice shelf shrinks during the warm weather), and spend the summer feeding there with the entire colony.

Because of their size and swimming ability (they can dive up to 50m (160 ft), and easily swim below ice floes), emperor penguins feed mostly on fish, but also include squid and crustaceans as available. While they are in their breeding grounds, they are pretty much free of predators, but by the sea the chicks are subject to attack from birds (the Southern giant petrel is responsible for over half of all chick deaths) and the adults are a favorite food of leopard seals. While they are at sea, orcas also consider them a tasty treat.

The conservation status of the emperor penguin was changed from Least Concern to Near threatened in 2012. The main reason for this is a declining food supply, caused by commercial fishing and climate change - which also reduces the area of sea ice available for their use. Another major concern is the impact of tourism, as human presence is quite disruptive to their social structure.