13 Freaky Flippertastic Facts For World Penguin Day

April 25 is World Penguin Day! Let's celebrate our funny fine-flippered friends with some un-beak-leavable penguin facts.

1. Giant, people sized penguins once roamed the earth

Guardian.co.uk / Via image.guardian.co.uk

Fossil evidence shows that penguins evolved before the dinosaurs died out, and there are giant penguin fossils measuring 1.5 metres!

2. The world’s smallest penguin weighs as much as a pineapple

Via funnyasduck.net

Little Blue penguins are just over 30 cm high on their flippers. Yes, you’re thinking you could fit one in your bag and keep it in your bath, aren’t you?

3. Penguins love tobogganing

tumblr.com / Via National Geographic

They’re not so steady on their feet, so to move quickly over the ice, penguins use a method called “tobogganing”

4. Adelie penguins will do *anything* for a rock

youtube.com / Via BBC

They use rocks to make nests and they are in short supply. So some penguins turn to a life of crime to feed the need. And female Adelie penguins think nothing of offering sex to neighbouring males in exchange for a pebble.

5. The men get stuck with baby duty

Ross Sea Info / Via rosssea.info

When Emperor penguin couples have an egg, it is the male that takes care of it. He balances it on top of his feet, and keeps it warm underneath a fatty "brood pouch" while the female goes hunting. She leaves him with the egg for around 2 months, during which he huddles with other penguins for warmth and loses about half his body weight.

6. Penguins can porpoise (but porpoises can't penguin)

cdn.themetapicture.com / Via cdn.themetapicture.com

To move fast through the water, penguins "porpoise". They use their powerful flippers to leap out of the water as they swim.

7. They feast on sustainable fish

buzzfeed.com

Penguins at London and Edinburgh Zoos only eat sustainably-sourced fish. They’re very picky and eco-conscious, you know.

8. Penguin poo can be seen from space

blogs.discovermagazine.com / Via Fretwell et al

Talk about the ultimate skid mark! Penguin poo stains the ice so much that scientists can use satellite images to estimate penguin populations.

9. They aren't afraid of humans

giphy.com / Via SenorGif

Penguins evolved without land-based predators in the Antarctic. They will approach humans and even dogs without hesitation – part of the reason dogs have been banned from Antarctica since 1994

10. Their sexual practices can be shocking!

upload.wikimedia.org / Via Wikipedia

Early scientists in Antarctica deemed the sexual shenanigans of Adelie penguins too shocking for the public to know about, and hid the research for 100 years! They include necrophilia, sexual coercion, sexual and physical abuse of chicks and homosexual behaviour.

11. They get jealous - and they know how to show it

Via TreeHugger

Penguins aren't above a dirty protest. When the Edinburgh zoo got a new panda exhibit, they had to put up protective glass panels – to stop jealous penguins from squirting people in the panda queue with poop!

12. Penguinologists are a thing

Via Cute Overload

Dream job, anyone?

13. Penguins that live on the ice are seeing their homes melt

Via imgur.com

You can help penguins by becoming an Oceans Defender, and working to protect their homes.

Penguins everywhere are suffering from the effects of climate change, so reducing your carbon footprint is another big way to help them. Have a happy World Penguin Day!