15 penguin pictures that will absolutely melt your heart

There are 17 known species of penguin, and all of them are highly social, which is why penguin pictures often depict more than one penguin at a time. When you see a photo of a lone penguin, it could be because the penguin in question is on its way to dive for food – which some species of penguin prefer to do alone, according to the penguin experts at SeaWorld.

All species of penguin live in colonies known as “rookeries” during the breeding season. Some rookeries include hundreds of thousands of penguins and cover hundreds of square kilometres.

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King penguins, which are identifiable by their golden-orange markings on their head and neck, are known to be very friendly with one another in their rookeries, but when it comes time to travel, they tend to break off into smaller groups of between 5 and 20 individuals.

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A popular myth about penguins is they’re strictly monogamous. While some species do tend toward choosing lifetime partners, not all do, and the penguin experts at SeaWorld note that some penguins – both males and females – have multiple partners per season. So what’s going on this penguin picture?

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African penguins are one notably monogamous penguin species. (They only seek out a new partner if their partnership hasn’t resulted in babies.) This couple, shown during mating season, look like they’re perfectly content with one another.

Of course, even the happiest of couples have been known to bicker at times. These two Falkland Island penguins appear to be arguing with one another, although if you asked them, they’d probably say, “We’re not arguing, we’re having a discussion.”

It appears this penguin couple is having the same argument you have with your spouse every single time you travel. We imagine it’s going something like this: “Go ask that guy for directions.” “I know where I’m going.” “We’ve been walking in circles for hours!”

You know those couples who almost look like they could be brother and sister? When we see penguin pictures like this one, it’s hard to argue that penguins and humans don’t share that trait.

These emperor penguin chicks are still so young, they haven’t yet acquired the distinctive colouring of emperor penguin adults, which have yellowy-gold markings on the side of their head and neck.

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Sometimes penguin pictures can inadvertently hide how tall the penguins in them actually are. For example, this emperor penguin may be close to 120 centimetres tall, which is the height of an average human six-year-old.

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You can tell this is a rockhopper penguin because of the distinctive crest of spiky yellow and black feathers that adorns its head.

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“The adult penguin will partially digest the fish or other food,” explains Sciencing.com. It can take several hours, but once the penguin determines the food’s been digested enough, it’s coughed back up and fed to the chick. The penguins pictured here are king penguins (king penguin chicks are born brown, and when they get older, they moult, and their feathers are replaced with their distinctive adult coat).

Pictures of animals taking care of their young are, more often than not, pictures of female animals. Not so with penguin pictures. Here, a male Adélie penguin, native to Antarctica, shares in the egg-sitting duties.

If you guessed someplace south of the equator, you’re probably right, except that this happens to be a photo of a Galapagos penguin, the only species of penguin known to venture north of the equator.

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Source: RD.com