How We Found Three New Species of Penguins

Abstract

Usually, it is easy to tell species apart by what they look like, for example, a blue whale and a horse. Chinstrap and Adelie penguins are closely related species, but we can still tell them apart by their unique color patterns. However, sometimes different species look incredibly similar, and we must use special methods to tell them apart. These are called cryptic species. Gentoo penguins live across a large area, including Antarctica and many sub-Antarctic Islands. It has been suspected that gentoos might really be more than one species. To test this, we looked at their DNA and measured their flippers, legs, and beaks to compare gentoos living in four locations. We found differences that told us that there are at least four species of gentoo penguins, not just one species as previously thought.