The Complicated Truth About Penguins
Penguins of the World Cup 2018
I consider myself a penguin afficionado. I'm not quite an expert-- apparently there are people with PhDs that can claim that title-- but I've done my fair share of research on the subject. I can easily (and without prompting) spout penguin facts about habitat, vocalization, and pop culture representation. But there's one question that always seems to trip me up.
"How many penguin species are there?"
It's deceptively simple, one of the first bits of information any self respecting penguiphile should be able to give, and yet the truth of the matter is... I'm not really sure. There's conflicting information. I'm old school, so let's start with an encyclopedia.
There are six genera of penguins and 16-18 species, depending on the taxonomic treatment.
"Penguins ." The Gale Encyclopedia of Science. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Aug. 2020 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>.
Ok, well that doesn't entirely clear things up, but this is just a generic encyclopedia entry. Let's take a look at something more specialized (one of my favorite penguin research books).
While a few types of penguins are relatively well-known-- thanks to zoos, books, films and select travel destinations-- not everyone realizes the family is represented by 18 species (or even 19, depending on the taxonomy used).
Roy, De Tui, et al. Penguins: The Ultimate Guide. Princeton University Press, 2014.
Well this source is a little more confident in their numbers, but again it's down to taxonomy. Basically, it's a matter a classification. It reminds me of trying to sort out crayons when all the paper wrappers have been peeled off. Is this one red-orange or orange-yellow? They both look orange to me. But surely penguins are more discernable than crayons? Let's take a look.
Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, Japan
Exhibit A: the Rockhopper penguin. With bright feathers like angry eyebrows and a big-penguin-in-a-little-body attitude, you'd think they would be impossible to misidentify. But this vibrant fellow seems to be having an identity crisis. While once seen as a single type of penguin, some scientists now believe the Rockhopper to be divided into two or even three separate species. (The Southern Rockhopper is more widely accepted to be distinct from the Northern or Moseley's Rockhopper, while the Eastern Rockhopper is often argued to be a subspecies.)
It seems the crested penguins (genus Eudyptes) are a popular target for such scientific squabbles. Take the Royal penguin -- a unique species based on Macquarie Island, or just a Macaroni penguin with bold face paint? And it's not just the fancy fringed birds, either. Even the little guys have waddled into the fray with their own controversial species separation: the Little penguin (Eudyptula minor) and the White Flippered penguin (Eudyptula albosignata). After some flipp(er) flopping on classification, the White Flippered penguin is considered a subspecies of the Little penguin, for now...
So how many species of penguins are there, you're begging, no, demanding to know? The truth is, well, it depends on who you ask.
Recommended reading: 26 Types of Penguins via Two Oceans Aquarium