P-P-P-Peek at a Penguin Trivia Quiz

Answer: Emperor

When the name 'penguin' is mentioned, the emperor penguin is probably the bird most people instantly think of. In the water they live up to their majestic name as they are extremely good swimmers, capable of diving to depths of over 500 metres (about 1650 feet) in pursuit of dinner. However, they are not quite so well adapted to moving about on land. The long walk they have to complete between the sea and their breeding grounds gives plenty of opportunity for comical moments - such as when they fall flat on their beaks and end up body surfing along the ice...

The harsh lifestyle of the emperor penguin has provided the basis for several TV and film documentaries, such as the 2005 film 'March of the Penguins' as well as the slightly less scientifically accurate 'Happy Feet' series.

King penguins also live in the areas around Antarctica but are smaller and breed in more temperate conditions on islands such as South Georgia and Tierra del Fuego. There are no penguins called sovereigns or monarchs.

Answer: Adélie

Adélie penguins are native to Antarctica, spending most of their time at sea or living on the sea ice, before moving to the Antarctic coast to breed during the summer. They were first seen by humans in 1840, during Jules Dumont d'Urville's voyage of polar exploration. He named an area of the Antarctic mainland 'Terre Adélie' after his wife, Adèle. This name was then later applied to the penguins he had spotted.

The birds are social creatures (a clear necessity when living in close quarters with thousands of others) and renowned for their inquisitive character. The expedition of the doomed Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott encountered these penguins in 1910 and observed that the Adélie penguins were keen to interact with both the humans and their dog sled teams. Unfortunately for the penguins, the dogs were less keen on socialising and several penguin fatalities followed.

Answer: Rockhopper

The southern rockhopper is probably one of the least imaginatively named penguins in the world. The 'southern' part comes from the fact they tend to be found on islands off the southern coasts of Argentina and Chile, while their northern rockhopper cousins live further north on Atlantic islands such as Tristan da Cunha. The naming system goes even further as southern rockhoppers are often split into two subspecies: eastern rockhopper and western rockhopper...

The 'rockhopper' part of the name is simply a description of their means of negotiating their way across rugged beaches and cliffs. They are highly entertaining birds to watch as they waddle along, hopping over obstacles and leaping rocky crevices - often at dangerous heights for a bird that is incapable of flight.

Answer: Fairy

Little/little blue/fairy penguins are found across Australia, New Zealand and smaller surrounding islands. They are very little, averaging just over a foot in height compared to the four foot stature of the emperor penguin. They usually nest in colonies, returning to the same nesting site year after year. The nest itself is usually in a burrow or cave and is located close to the coastline to allow the parent penguins easy access to the sea for fishing expeditions. As a precaution against predators, little penguins will often travel between their nest site and the sea in a large group, creating quite a show for any human observers and are, inevitably, a good tourist attraction.

As these penguins tend to live close to human populations, they are at risk from a different, rather less exotic, set of predators to other penguins. They have to beware of foxes, cats, dogs and various rodents as well as dangers from fishing nets, discarded plastic and oil spills. Sadly, humans in general don't seem to be particularly good neighbours to poor old little penguins.

Little penguins usually look a lot sleeker than the one in this picture, which is part way through the moulting process.

Answer: Gentoo

Gentoo penguins are quite large birds and the third-largest species of penguin after the emperor and king varieties. Although ungainly on land, they are proficient swimmers capable of about 22 mph (36 km/h) underwater. The gentoo would win the penguin swimming competition by some margin as most other penguins can only manage somewhere between 4 and 7 mph (6 to 11 km/h).

In addition to the prominent white patch on their head, gentoos can be identified by their relatively long tail that sticks out prominently behind them as they walk. Their breeding grounds are located around the coast of Antarctica and its surrounding islands. Particularly large colonies can be found on the Falkland Islands and South Georgia.

A towhee is a passerine bird related to the American sparrow and a chickadee is a member of the tit family. There is no such thing as a cuckoo penguin, and as far as anyone knows cuckoos are yet to pick on penguins to raise their young for them...

Answer: Chinstrap

The largest colonies of chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica) are found on the South Sandwich Islands, which lie over 2,500km (about 1,550 miles) off the south-east coast of Argentina. The distinctive line of black feathers on their neck have also led to a variety of alternative names such as the bearded penguin and ringed penguin.

Chinstrap penguins share the duty of chick rearing. The male and female take turns to incubate the two eggs. Chicks hatch after about five or six weeks incubation and the parents then take turns to go fishing to supply food for their offspring. After about another month the chick is old enough to go to the 'crèche', where a large group of chicks will huddle together for warmth. This allows both parents to return to the sea in order to increase the food supply to satisfy their growing demand for fish. Another two months later, the chicks will have moulted off their initial downy grey plumage and be all set to go off to sea for the first time.

There are no helmeted penguins (although helmeted hornbills and helmeted guinea fowl both exist). A black cap is a type of warbler found across Europe, Africa and Asia; nobody named 'Bonnet' has a penguin named after them.

Answer: Magellanic

Magellanic penguins are native to southern South America, with breeding grounds in Argentina, Chile and the Falkland Islands. They were first spotted in 1520 during a Spanish funded voyage of 1519-1522, led by Ferdinand Magellan, which became the first to complete a circumnavigation the world. However, Magellan himself didn't complete the voyage as he was killed in the Philippines in April 1521.

These penguins are unusual in that they mate for life, with the male and female meeting up each year at the breeding grounds. They build their nests in small burrows or under bushes and share the task of incubating the eggs and caring for the chicks after they have hatched - a process that takes up just over 2 months of the year. It is believed that Magellanic penguins can live for up to 25 years in the wild, while in captivity some have been recorded as living up to 30 years.

The only incorrect answer that is a genuine type of penguin is the Humboldt. It was named after Alexander von Humboldt, a Prussian naturalist who travelled extensively around the Caribbean and South America in the early 19th century. Humboldt penguins are generally found on the west coast of South America in Peru and northern Chile.

Answer: Yellow-eyed

Megadyptes antipodes, or yellow-eyed penguin, is native to New Zealand. It can be found in a limited number of breeding areas around the coast of South Island, Stewart Island (the third largest island of New Zealand) and the Campbell and Auckland Islands. It is one of the rarest species of penguin in the world with an estimated population of around only 4,000 birds.

The yellow-eyed penguin is known as a hoiho in Maori, which translates as 'the noise shouter'. If this is a good description of their general behaviour then it becomes less surprising to learn that these are one of the few penguins that are not keen on the colony lifestyle. They don't nest in close proximity to other birds but instead congregate in the same general area but with each nest usually out of the direct sight of any particularly beaky neighbours.

An interesting point to note is that yellow-eyed penguins do not actually develop their distinctive yellow eyes until they are at least a year old. The yellow colouration comes from the carotene present in their food (fish not carrots). Some studies have suggested that the strength of the penguins' eye colour is correlated to their fishing abilities - those penguins that can catch, and therefore eat, more fish end up with very yellow eyes.

Answer: Snares penguin

The Snares Islands, also known as Tini Heke in the Maori language, are located approximately 125 miles (200 km) south of New Zealand's South Island. They were named by Captain George Vancouver (who is more famous for giving his name to the Canadian city of Vancouver) as he felt they were a potential 'snare' for late 18th century shipping. Snares are used to trap small mammals, such as rabbits, by wrapping a wire noose around their neck or body. As penguins have flippers rather than hands it is unlikely that they would have the required dexterity to operate a snare, and therefore it should come as no surprise that the species is not named after these rather controversial devices.

Somewhat incongruously, the Snares penguin, or Eudyptes robustus, is actually considered to be a vulnerable species due to the fact that its breeding grounds are basically limited to one specific geographic location. If these were to be lost through either natural or human induced disaster then the penguins would be catastrophically affected. They are particularly noted for their production of size-dimorphic eggs, with the second of the two eggs in the clutch being considerably larger than the first. The second egg also hatches first, meaning the older chick is at a considerable advantage in the nest and its smaller, younger sibling often does not survive.

The incorrect answers are other species of penguin named after the area in which they are mainly found. Sadly the Chatham penguin is extinct and is now only known from fossils located on the Chatham Islands.

Answer: Macaroni

Oddly enough the macaroni penguin was not directly named after a type of Italian pasta. The name is actually believed to derive from the fashion term 'macaroni', which dates from the mid-18th century and refers to a man dressed in an ostentatious or over-the-top manner. Probably the best known example of the use of this term is in the lyrics of the folk song 'Yankee Doodle' which includes the verse "Yankee Doodle went to town riding on a pony; he stuck a feather in his hat, and called it macaroni". However, as the term 'macaroni' was first used by young English men who had developed a taste for macaroni pasta while in Italy on their 'Grand Tour', you could say that the penguin was named after the pasta after all...

The term 'macaroni' was given to the penguins by English sailors in the early 19th century. Clearly this was because of the macaroni penguins' impressively decorative crest of yellow feathers.

Fusilli, rigatoni and spaghetti are all types of pasta.