The white-flippered penguin has white markings on its flippers. It is found on the Banks Peninsula of New Zealand’s South Island, and on Motunau Island, a nature reserve that lies off the coast of South Island. Caballero, Rodrigo; Huber, Matthew (August 27, 2013). "State-dependent climate sensitivity in past warm climates and its implications for future climate projections". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 110 (35): 14162–14167. Bibcode: 2013PNAS..11014162C. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1303365110. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 3761583. PMID 23918397.

International), BirdLife International (BirdLife (August 7, 2018). "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Yellow-eyed Penguin". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Archived from the original on March 4, 2020 . Retrieved June 2, 2020. The geographical and temporal pattern of spheniscine evolution corresponds closely to two episodes of global cooling documented in the paleoclimatic record. [31] The emergence of the Subantarctic lineage at the end of the Bartonian corresponds with the onset of the slow period of cooling that eventually led to the ice ages some 35 million years later. With habitat on the Antarctic coasts declining, by the Priabonian more hospitable conditions for most penguins existed in the Subantarctic regions rather than in Antarctica itself. [41] Notably, the cold Antarctic Circumpolar Current also started as a continuous circumpolar flow only around 30 mya, on the one hand forcing the Antarctic cooling, and on the other facilitating the eastward expansion of Spheniscus to South America and eventually beyond. [31] Despite this, there is no fossil evidence to support the idea of crown radiation from the Antarctic continent in the Paleogene, although DNA study favors such a radiation. [41] In any case, the gigantic penguins had disappeared by the end of the Paleogene, around 25 mya. Their decline and disappearance coincided with the spread of the Squalodontoidea and other primitive, fish-eating toothed whales, which certainly competed with them for food, and were ultimately more successful. [31] A new lineage, the Paraptenodytes, which includes smaller but decidedly stout-legged forms, had already arisen in southernmost South America by that time. The early Neogene saw the emergence of yet another morphotype in the same area, the similarly sized but more gracile Palaeospheniscinae, as well as the radiation that gave rise to the penguin biodiversity of our time.

6. Penguins are media superstars

Gohlich, U. B. (2007). "The oldest fossil record of the extant penguin genus Spheniscus – a new species from the Miocene of Peru". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 52: 285–298. Archived from the original on November 13, 2014 . Retrieved November 13, 2014.

a b Gaskell, Jeremy (2000). Who Killed the Great Auk?. Oxford University Press (USA). p.152. ISBN 0-19-856478-3. Archived from the original on October 18, 2021 . Retrieved November 18, 2020. The Galápagos penguin is only found on the Galápagos Islands – a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean famous for providing the inspiration for Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Outside of the breeding season, the Snares penguin forages over a wide area, including the Tasman Sea and the eastern Indian Ocean. International), BirdLife International (BirdLife (August 7, 2018). "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Gentoo Penguin". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Archived from the original on March 4, 2020 . Retrieved June 2, 2020. Reilly PN, Balmford P (1975). "A breeding study of the little penguin, Eudyptula minor, in Australia". In Stonehouse, Bernard (ed.). The Biology of Penguins. London: Macmillan. pp.161–87. ISBN 978-0-333-16791-5.

1. Giant penguins once roamed the planet

DK (2016). Animal!. Penguin. ISBN 9781465459008. Archived from the original on June 2, 2021 . Retrieved November 18, 2020. a b Baker, A., Pereira, SL, Haddrath, OP, Edge, KA (2006). "Multiple gene evidence for expansion of extant penguins out of Antarctica due to global cooling". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 273 (#1582): 11–7. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2005.3260. PMC 1560011. PMID 16519228. {{ cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( link)