7 Crazy Penguin Facts that will have you "pen-grinning"

Are you a penguin lover? Do you tend to love learning about animal species? Maybe, you are curious why penguins are one of the only birds who can not fly. Being obsessed with penguins my entire life, has led me to research to learn more about my favorite animal. I will be attending Olivet Nazarene University in the fall of 2023, where I will start my four-year degree in zoology. With my zoology degree, I hope to be able to work with animals in the wild, especially penguins. As a "pengeek", I want to teach other people why penguins are important animals and what can be done to help save their declining population.

1. Penguins can dive between 300 and 650 feet!

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Penguins can swim deeper than any other bird. The emperor penguin can swim as deep as 1,850 feet, according to the Guinness World Records! This makes penguins the strongest swimmers. They can stay at this depth for 15-20 minutes.

2. Penguins are considered a marine species, a bird, and a polar species!

Penguins are one of the only animals that fall into multiple categories The five basic animal categories include mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and fish. This can be classified further into kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.
For example, an emperor penguins classification would be: Animalia (kingdom), Chordata (phylum), Aves (class), Sphenisciformes (order), Spheniscidae (family), Aptenodytes (genus), and Aptenodytes forsteri (species). In simpler terms, this expresses exactly what kind of animal a penguin is, considering it is part of the marine life, bird species, and polar areas.

Penguins are considered both land birds and marine animals.