penguins

This Aquarium Is the Only Place On Earth Where Penguins Can Fly

The Sunshine Aquarium—located atop an entertainment complex in the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo—features a unique ring-shaped see-through tank perched seven-and-a-half feet over guests that usually lets them watch the facility’s seal population swim laps. But this summer the aquarium’s added a special penguin exhibit, and every evening the birds are given exclusive access to the…

Biology Andrew Liszewski Jul 31

Penguins Rocket Away from Danger Aboard Supercavitating Bubble Jets

Turns out, not being eaten by a leopard seal is excellent motivation. It’s what spurred penguins to develop an ingenious method of cutting down their drag—by wrapping themselves in a shawl of bubbles. When being hunted by a leopard seal in the water, penguins will attempt to escape by hurling themselves out of the water…

Biology Andrew Tarantola Apr 19

The Most Accurate Count of Emperor Penguin Populations. From Space!

Good news for penguin-enthusiasts everywhere (that’s all of us, right? Good… just checking): scientists studying emperor penguin populations in Antarctica have tallied almost 600,000 of the birds waddling around the icy continent. That’s around twice as many as they were expecting to find — but what’s really impressive is how they went about counting them.…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Apr 13

Penguin poop can be seen from space

A combination of background coloring and penguin gastrointestinal prowess allows the Emperor penguin to be tracked by satellites orbiting the Earth. And ecologists love it. As anyone knows, there are some serious downsides to white carpeting, namely stains. All it takes is a single errant glass of juice, and the furniture has to be rearranged.…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Apr 2

Jeremy Lin Gets His Own Weed, The President of Israel Wants to Be Friends, and Penguins Make an Adorable Break for Freedom

Roll that spliff phatly, pack some fresh ice into the binger, and set the Volcano to “toastify.” It’s time for tonight’s Stoner Channel. We’ve collected our best high-times material for the discerning pothead so sit back, relax, and pass that shit on the left, yo. Tonight’s nug of Purp Dawg comes to us from reader…

Social Media Andrew Tarantola Mar 10

It’s impossible to be anything but happy while watching the live Penguin Cam

Warning: Do not watch this adorable live stream of the Penguins at SeaWorld in San Diego unless you can squeal with happiness at your place of work. Just wait until the first penguin takes a run at the live penguin camera, and you’ll turn into a hopeless pile of joy. The live stream is promoting…

io9 Meredith Woerner Mar 6

Wayward New Zealand Penguin Might’ve Been Chomped by a Killer Whale

Of course the little infidel is lost again. Just a week after being shoved out a boat and forced to swim all the way back to Antartica, Happy Feet the penguin’s gone off the reservation, and his satellite tracker’s dead. https://gizmodo.com/track-this-adorable-penguin-as-he-swims-from-new-zealan-5837567 The transmitter stopped sending signals on Friday, and there are only really two possibilities…

Tech News Kyle Wagner Sep 13

Track This Adorable Penguin as He Swims from New Zealand to Antartica

Back in June, an Antarctic emperor penguin took one heck of a wrong turn and ended up in New Zealand, 2,000 miles off course. Now the little interloper is finally on his way back to where he belongs, and you can track him as he goes. The penguin—sadistically named “Happy Feet” by his Kiwi captors—finally…

Tech News Kyle Wagner Sep 6

How do emperor penguins survive underwater long after their oxygen should be depleted?

Emperor penguins are the undisputed champions of diving in the world of birds. They can travel more than 500 meters below the surface, and stay submerged for more than 20 minutes, even though by all accounts their oxygen should run out in just a fraction of that. So how do they pull off this incredibly…

io9 Tim Barribeau May 12

How Do You Weigh Wild Penguins?

This clip is a brilliant way to round out a year in cute animal videos. Scientists built a special bridge to weigh wild Adelie penguins, so their feeding habits can be studied. Watch as the penguins wait their turn, below: Three scales were disguised as bridges on popular Adelie penguin routes in Antarctica, weighing each…

Biology Kat Hannaford Dec 31

See Adelie penguins being stealthily weighed – for science!

Scientists wanted to measure how much wild Adelie penguins are eating. Weighing each penguin before and after the trip was impossible, so the scientist engineered bridges with scales. First the scientists scouted out the paths that the penguins took to the ocean and cordoned them off, leaving only precarious paths between two rocks. Between those…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 30

36 million-year-old penguin was five feet tall and had reddish-brown feathers

A newly discovered penguin fossil reveals a bird twice as big as an Emperor penguin and with colors radically different from the familiar black and white features all modern penguins share…but this Water King was already the perfect swimming bird. The fossil was discovered in Peru and has been classified as Inkayacu paracasensis, but its…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Sep 30

Meet Blackie The Mutant Penguin

This rare all-black mutant penguin was spotted and photographed by Andrew Evans, who is traveling in Antarctica. What gave this suave little guy his goth look? No, the answer is not Photoshop. National Geographic’s Janelle Nanos asked Allan Baker, an ornithologist, about the images. Here’s what transpired: “Well that is astonishing,” he said. “I’ve never…

io9 Annalee Newitz Mar 4

What’s Black And White And Red All Over? Not THIS Penguin!

A penguin in the UK molted all of his feathers at once, which left his pale skin exposed to possible sunburn. But his keepers decided he shouldn’t be the butt of a joke and made him a tiny wetsuit. It’s built out of the leg of a human-sized wetsuit and customized just for Ralph (the…

io9 StephenGoldmeier Aug 14

Gay Penguins Hatch And Raise A Penguin Baby

Sexual experimentation on the part of German penguins has concluded with one happy couple, and their adopted chick. Let the gay penguins of the world be an example to the rest of you. In 2005 the German zoo attempted to test sexual orientation of homosexual penguins. According to the BBC, “Three pairs of male penguins…

io9 Meredith Woerner Jun 3

Penguin Poo, Spotted by Satellite, Reveals Location of Secret Penguin Base

Even though non-military satellites don’t have powerful enough resolution to zoom in on a particular penguin—or any critter—certain clues can help locate them in the frozen antarctic. Yes, when mapping experts spotted up the unmistakable reddish-brown smears of penguin poop—penguano?—on the antarctic ice, the jig was up for a huge colony of emperor penguins that…

Tech News Wilson Rothman Jun 2

Bionic Penguins to Destroy Humans from Water and Air

Bionic penguins that travel underwater independently. Bionic flying penguins. Robotic arms made of fiberglass rods with free will. Molecubes that assemble into infinite-growing robots. All for real, as this video shows. I’m leaving the planet. Sure, it’s an infomercial about this company called Festo, but it’s impressive nonetheless. Like other tech companies, they are getting…

Tech News Jesus Diaz Apr 20

Who Needs Nature? Festo Bionic Learning Network Builds A Better Penguin

Festo is no stranger to autonomous robot creatures, but their latest initiative, called the Bionic Learning Network, might as well be referred to from here on out as Skynet for the animal kingdom. Extinction level events aside, the first few moments of this Festo promotional video are pretty amazing. Those little blue-eyed Terminator penguins you…

Tech News Jack Loftus Apr 19

Penguins Flying in Military Planes from Brazil’s Beaches to the South Atlantic

Get ready to fight to the death for this one, Disney, Pixar, and Dreamworks: More than a thousand penguins have suddenly appeared on the beaches of Brazil. The scientists can’t explain why this is happening. Some say they are somehow confused. Knowing the view on Brazil’s beaches, I personally think they are not confused at…

Tech News Jesus Diaz Oct 5

This Aquarium Is the Only Place On Earth Where Penguins Can Fly

Penguins Rocket Away from Danger Aboard Supercavitating Bubble Jets

The Most Accurate Count of Emperor Penguin Populations. From Space!

Penguin poop can be seen from space

Jeremy Lin Gets His Own Weed, The President of Israel Wants to Be Friends, and Penguins Make an Adorable Break for Freedom

It’s impossible to be anything but happy while watching the live Penguin Cam

Wayward New Zealand Penguin Might’ve Been Chomped by a Killer Whale

Track This Adorable Penguin as He Swims from New Zealand to Antartica

How do emperor penguins survive underwater long after their oxygen should be depleted?

How Do You Weigh Wild Penguins?

See Adelie penguins being stealthily weighed – for science!

36 million-year-old penguin was five feet tall and had reddish-brown feathers

Meet Blackie The Mutant Penguin

What’s Black And White And Red All Over? Not THIS Penguin!

Gay Penguins Hatch And Raise A Penguin Baby

Penguin Poo, Spotted by Satellite, Reveals Location of Secret Penguin Base

Bionic Penguins to Destroy Humans from Water and Air

Who Needs Nature? Festo Bionic Learning Network Builds A Better Penguin

Penguins Flying in Military Planes from Brazil’s Beaches to the South Atlantic

Amazon Is Sticking With ‘Rings of Power’ to the End

Trump Is Reportedly Going Full Steam Ahead with the Golden Dome

‘Kamen Rider’ Is Ready to Take on the World

Twitter Just Can’t Stop Leaking Movies

The ‘Mass Effect’ Show is Getting Rewritten to Get Greenlit

See the Early Stages of How ‘Project Hail Mary’ Brought Rocky to Life

‘Cognitive Surrender’ Is a New and Useful Term for How AI Melts Brains

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Let us help find what you are looking for...