Which Penguin Is That? A World Penguin Day Special
Sophie Plants, Digital Illustration
April 25th is World Penguin Day, a day to celebrate our flightless feathered friends. I always like to celebrate by watching one of my favorite penguin movies or maybe reading a good book; but another worthwhile way of celebrating is through education.
You may know that there are 18 different penguin species (or are there?) but do you know how to tell them apart? The following guide will help you hone your skills as a penguin spotter so that you can wow friends, family and random people at the zoo.
Emperor vs King
Sophie Plants, Ink and Acrylic
They may be royalty, but these two penguin species can be hard to tell apart. Emperor penguins are taller -- the tallest penguin species alive!-- but unless you have a King and an Emperor standing next to each other that still might be a tough identifier. The trick is to look at the markings on their neck:
King penguins have yellow-orange patches that are separated from their white bellies.
On Emperors, the orange patch fades gradually into yellow and then white without any separation.
Macaroni vs Rockhopper
Sophie Plants, Ink and Acrylic
Both members of the crested family, Macaroni and Rockhopper penguins can both be identified by their signature crests, the long colorful feathers on top of their heads. But how can you tell these two species apart? Firstly, Rockhoppers are smaller than Macaroni penguins, although this isn't as helpful if you can't see the two side by side. The easiest way to tell these species apart is to look at their crest:
Rockhopper penguins have two distinct crests of yellow feathers sitting above their eyes like eyebrows.
With Macaroni penguins, the crest is a single v-shape that meets above their beak and rises up over each eye like a big yellow unibrow!
Just think of it this way: Macaroni penguins have a single noodle on their face, whereas you can hop back and forth on the Rockhoppers' eyebrows! (Okay, I just made that up, but I think it's pretty clever.)
The Banded Penguins
Sophie Plants, Digital Illustration
There are four species of Spheniscus, or Banded Penguins, and one key to telling them apart is by looking at the bands. All four penguins have black faces, with a white band that runs from the top of their eye down to their chest.
African Penguins have a single thin band of black across the top of their chest.
Humboldt penguins have a slightly thicker black band, and a large section of pink on their beak.
Magellanic penguins have a thick black band and then a second thin black band below it.
Finally, Galapagos penguins have the least amount of white on their faces, and a thin white band across their chest.
Got that? It's okay, I can't tell them apart all the time either!
Now why not head to your local zoo or aquarium and do some penguin spotting!
All ink paintings featured in this blog post are for sale! To own a one-of-a-kind hand painted penguin portrait, please visit my shop.
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