Why are there no penguins in the Arctic? What about the 69 penguins released to the North Pole 80 years ago?

Penguins should be one of the cutest animals in the world. Its chubby body wobbles when walking, which is very distinctive! And the excellent temperament of emperor penguins. You will fall in love with them the first time you see them, even if they stink everywhere!

Penguins are not afraid of heat. Why didn't they appear in the North Pole?

Penguin is a very wonderful animal. I remember a funny question. If there are only fossils, can archaeologists recover the shape of penguins? There are various answers, one of which is that if the climate pattern at that time is found in the fossil layer, it seems that it can be restored, but if it is restored only by fossils, it is estimated that it is a little different from the penguins now!

Penguin skeleton of "spreading wings and flying"

At present, there are 19 species of penguins in the world, most of which live in Antarctica and its surrounding areas. For example, emperor penguins and Adelie penguins can often be seen during the Antarctic expedition.

The most spectacular scene in winter is that emperor penguins gather in a huge team lower than the Antarctic cold wind. At this time, the team is all male penguins, because every year from May to June, the female penguin will lay a huge egg, and then the female penguin will go to the sea for food, while the male penguin will consume the stored fat until the second half of the summer.

In addition to penguins that spend the winter in the hinterland of Antarctica, there are penguins that live in low latitudes, such as Humboldt penguins, which live in South America and mainly breed along the coasts of Peru and Chile.

Magellanic penguins are also in South America, mainly distributed in the coastal areas of Argentina, Chile and Falkland Islands, and a small number have moved to Brazil to breed. The latitude of these areas is already relatively low, about 49 degrees south latitude, and the north latitude of the extension point is equivalent to the central part of Heilongjiang Province in China.

Black-footed penguins are penguins that inhabit the southwest coast of Africa. There are penguin colonies on 24 islands from Namibian to South Africa near the Gulf of Agoya in port elizabeth, and the largest colony is located in Dale Island. The latitude here is lower, about 34 degrees south latitude, and the north latitude of the extension point is probably the location of Jiangsu Province.

Penguins living in equatorial regions

Galapagos Penguin is a kind of penguin distributed in the Cologne Islands of South America. It is the only penguin that is wild in the northern equatorial region, almost in the equatorial region. However, due to the combined influence of Peru cold current and Cromwell current, the environmental temperature of Cologne Islands is much lower than that of other equatorial regions, so the Galapagos Islands have a very unique climate model.

Penguins that can survive almost all over the world, why didn't they go north?

Presumably everyone should have a question. This kind of penguin lives from the Antarctic to the equator, and basically the global latitude has crossed. Isn't this northern hemisphere the upside-down southern hemisphere? Why didn't penguins go north to the North Pole?

This question is actually not difficult to answer, because most of the continents of the earth are located in the northern hemisphere, which is much more ecologically complete than the southern hemisphere, and large predators are basically distributed in the northern hemisphere. How difficult is it for this penguin to go north?

I believe you can also find that the island and regional ecology where penguins are located are relatively independent, and there are no top predators nearby, otherwise chubby penguins are no match for any predators at all, and even wolves can't carry them! There are "two roads" from the South Pole to the North Pole. One is the waterway, from the Pacific Ocean or Atlantic Ocean to the North Pole!

Another way is to bring South America-North America to the North Pole. Why not go from Africa, because the possibility of crossing the desert is still too low. Of course, land is too risky for penguins to walk long distances, so water is the first choice. Although killer whales and sharks will be encountered on the road, it is much more convenient on water than on land.

But there are actually no penguins in the Arctic, only seals and polar bears. If there were such wobbly and easy-to-catch penguins in the Arctic, polar bears would not starve to death, and neither would arctic foxes. Because there are too many carnivores in the Arctic, even for tens of millions of years, they have not successfully reached the North Pole.

What about the 69 penguins that were kept in the Arctic in the 20th century?

In fact, there are many independent islands in the Arctic Circle, and the ecology is relatively independent. Polar bears and arctic foxes can't reach the island, so some people plan to harvest the flooded penguins for free through "biological invasion"!

1936, Norwegian polar explorer Lars Christensen intended to make a windfall in this way. After all, penguins are not delicious, but they are high-value commodities, so he took nine penguins to the Lofton Islands!

Located in northern Norway, deep into the North Atlantic. Due to the influence of the North Atlantic warm current, there are many "ice-free ports" here. Many small islands are surrounded by oceans and there are no predators, so they are the best places to keep penguins in captivity. Christensen is very relieved to release the penguins that he brought back to "nature".

After being called "Arctic Penguin" by public opinion, Christensen brought back 60 penguins of all kinds at 1938, hoping to catch them again in a few years and make a lot of money!

But you must know the answer, because Norway's Lofoton Islands is a famous scenic spot, but I seem to have never heard of any "Arctic Penguin"! You guessed right, Christensen, who wants to get rich, miscalculated. After the last penguin sighting report on 1954, the "Arctic Penguin" disappeared.

Why can't "Arctic Penguins" survive?

Penguins mainly eat plankton in the ocean, such as krill, and some brachiopods, such as small fish and squid. In Antarctica, penguins eat millions of tons of Antarctic krill every year. In addition to penguins, blue whales and other baleen whales also eat krill, so you don't have to worry about krill being eaten up at all.

But near the North Pole, there is not so much food, so these unaccustomed penguins can only survive, and finally become extinct after more than ten years, and Christensen's dream of making money is completely lost.

Further reading: Flying Penguins in the Arctic

Some people say that there are penguins in the Arctic, and that is great auk. They are really similar to penguins in the Antarctic, but they are not related by blood, just typical convergent evolution.

Unfortunately, they went extinct at 1852! But now there is another kind of bird that looks like a penguin in the Arctic. They can fly! For example, the crow on the cliff, look at the picture below, is there a penguin charm?

The cliff raven is 38-46 cm long and has a wingspan of 6 1-73 cm. If no one tells you, they will be mistaken for some kind of penguin, but they are flying birds, flying but not very flexible, but they are extremely flexible when swimming in the water. Often dive 30-60 meters underwater, and the record shows that its diving depth can reach 180 meters. Maybe it will really evolve into an Arctic penguin after tens of thousands of years!