Kinds of penguins are there

The main way these penguins communicate is by chest pumping to attract mates and bowing regularly to their partners and children. They are a banded penguin, closely related to the African penguin, but far smaller. Their small size allows them to subsist entirely on small coastal minnows and shellfish, avoiding deep-water predators. Inhabiting Bounty and Antipodes Islands of New Zealand, erect-crested penguins Eudyptes sclateri are serious long-distance swimmers - hunting as far as South America and Antarctica to fatten up for their summer moults.

We think they have the coolest hairstyles of all penguins - and they spend large amounts of time grooming each other! Royal penguins Eudyptes schlegeli are unusual, living only on the sub-Antarctic island of Macquarie.

They look like Macaroni penguins, but with white faces instead of a black ones - for this reason there is much disagreement about whether they are actually two distinct species. Together with the Macaroni penguin, these are the only two species whose crests meet in the middle. Another close relative of African penguins, Humboldt penguins Spheniscus humboldti have a distinct black face with a white ring around it and pink exposed skin below its bill. A Humboldt penguin made world news when it escaped from Tokyo Sea Life Park by climbing a 4m high wall and a barbed wire fence.

It then survived in the waters of Japan for 82 days before being found. Eastern rockhopper penguins Eudyptes chrysocome filholi are very closely related to southern rockhoppers - in fact they can only be differentiated by their DNA and their unique birdsongs. These cryptic penguins inhabit several sub-Antarctic islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They are unusual and awesome , as they are the only penguin to live in rainforests!

Allied king penguins Aptenodytes patagonicus halli inhabit the southern islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, such as Marion Island.

There are no easily identifiable differences between the two types of king penguins, but they are genetically distinct. Allied king penguins tend to be highly variable in size due to the different diets they are exposed to on the islands they inhabit.

Gentoo penguins have generally been regarded as a single species, with a smaller subspecies that lives on Antarctica Pygoscelis papua ellsworthii and a larger one that inhabits Subantarctic islands Pygoscelis papua papua , such as South Africa's Marion Island. A recent genetic study in Ecology and Evolution has revealed that not only are those two subspecies actually distinct species, but the Subantarctic variety is actually divided into three! These proposed 4 gentoo species divisions are not yet verified, but it seems certain that they will at least be regarded as new subspecies of Pygoscelis papua.

Gentoo penguins Pygoscelis papua are larger than the other types of gentoos, even though those are the ones you most likely recognise from photos. These gentoos inhabit the Falkland Islands, but are also considered inhabitants of other southern Indian and Atlantic Oceans islands, such as Marion Island, in definitions that do not include the two new species. They make their nests from mounds of grass collected near their beaches.

Ellsworth's gentoo penguins Pygoscelis papua ellsworthii , proposed Pygoscelis ellsworthii live exclusively on the coast of Antarctica. They look virtually identical to their non-Antarctic counterparts, but are significantly smaller - a possible adaptation to food scarcity in the colder Antarctic waters.

These gentoos have also adapted to next on gravelly beaches and the mouths of rocky glacial valleys on the Western Antarctic Peninsula, South Shetland Islands and South Orkney Islands.

Despite its name, the colour pattern of the Kerguelen gentoo Pygoscelis taeniata is virtually identical to other gentoos. Originally described as a member of the Pygoscelis papua papua subspecies, these small gentoos are now being more commonly regarded as a distinct species - with some speculating that they may be further divided in future.

South Georgia gentoos Pygoscelis poncetii are the second-largest type of gentoo penguin, although they too have the identical colour pattern.

They are otherwise similar in lifestyle to other island-dwelling gentoos, although it has been noted that their population is in decline due to depleting fish stocks in their local waters. Until recently, New Zealand's little penguins were recognised as different subspecies of Eudyptula minor. When genetic testing was done to determine if these subspecies were significant, it was determined that they are all genetically similar , and thus no longer considered separate.

Still, they are cute enough to share with you. The diminutive white-flippered penguins Eudyptula minor albosignata live only in a few small colonies on the tiny islands on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island. Not only are they unique among little penguins for the white markings on the flippers, but they are the only nocturnal penguin. Cook Strait little penguins Eudyptula minor variabilis inhabit the southern end of the northern island of New Zealand.

Northern little penguins Eudyptula minor iredalei live at the northern end of the northern island of New Zealand. If you've read this far, you may be wondering why some of these penguins are regarded as their own species, but others aren't. Why are the white-flippered penguins and fairy penguins the same species, but the Macaroni and royal penguins are different? The macaroni penguin has a yellow crest, a black face and red bill. The Fiordland penguin is a crested penguin.

A mid-sized penguin species, the Fiordland penguin has a yellow crest and an orange bill. Unlike the closely-related erect-crested and Snares penguins, the Fiordland penguin lacks an area of bare skin at the base of its bill. The Snares penguin has a yellow eyebrow-crest, and a heavy red bill. At the base of the bill is an area of bare, pinkish-red skin. The royal penguin is very closely related to the macaroni penguin. The main difference between the two birds is that the royal penguin has a white face.

Many scientists consider them to be the same species. The royal penguin is found on Macquarie Island an Australian island in the Pacific Ocean and surrounding islands. It is medium-sized, and has a yellow crest extending from its bill to the back of its head. As its name suggests, the crest points upwards. The species is said to be the only crested penguin to be able to raise and lower its crest.

The erect-crested penguin is endangered. The population of mature erect-crested penguins is thought to be around , Standing at around 30 cm 12 in.

Little penguins are found in New Zealand where they are also known as little blue penguins , and Australia where they are also known as fairy penguins.

As with the rockhopper penguin, there is some disagreement over exactly how many species of little penguin there are. Three very similar types of little penguin exist little penguin, Australian little penguin and white-flippered penguin.

Some scientists consider them all to be subspecies of the little penguin. Others consider them to be either two or three separate species. The Australian little penguin is found mainly on islands off the southern coast of Australia. There are also breeding grounds on the mainland. The white-flippered penguin has white markings on its flippers. The yellow-eyed penguin is the fourth-largest penguin.

As its name suggests, it has yellow eyes and a yellow band that runs from eye to eye behind its head. It has a pink bill and pink feet. It can be recognized by the distinctive white ring around its eyes, and by the short black feathers that cover most of its bill. It lives all around the coast of Antarctica. The chinstrap penguin is a mid-sized penguin.

It is easily identified by the narrow black strip running under its face. It is this feature that gives the species its name. The chinstrap penguin is found in many locations in the Southern Ocean, and the southern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The Gentoo penguin is the third-largest species of penguin.

It can be identified by a white stripe that runs from eye to eye over the top of its head. She also suggests that evidence shows the little penguin should be considered two species. Then there is Dr Jane Younger from the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath who recently has a paper published suggesting there may be four species of Gentoo penguin, rather than the currently categorised one. According to the new evidence the birds differ in size and shape and can be told apart by their differing DNA.

There is also a longstanding scientific question over whether royal and macaroni penguins are two separate species or if the royal is a subspecies of the macaroni.

Again this is a divisive debate that is still up for discussion. But why is it important to know how many species there are? Well, counting penguins as different species could help with conservation as it would make it easier to catch and monitor population declines. Penguins face various threats in the wild from overfishing and climate change to plastic pollution so it is important to check the health of individual colonies.

So the current, widely recognised total currently sits at 18 species, but that could change in the next couple of years. No matter which side of the iceberg you sit on it is clear there is still much debate to be had in the world of penguin species science. Which just goes to show there is a lot more to these spectacular seabirds than meets the eye. Home Clips. Main content.