Today seems to be Penguin Awareness Day. So, for all of you who are not aware that penguins exist: the bird in the picture above is a penguin. An Adélie Penguin to be exact. In contrast to common believe, the penguin family is not an Antarctic family, it’s more a Southern Hemisphere family. There are penguins breeding as far north as the Galápagos Islands (aptly named “Galápagos Penguins”), just south of the equator. In fact, only 2 species breed on the continent of Antarctica, the above mentioned Adélie Penguin and the hardy Emperor Penguin. In islands in front of the Antarctic coast there are a few more, like the Gentoo and Chinstrap Penguin and even more are found in subantarctic islands like South Georgia or south of New Zealand.

I had to dig deep into my archive to find a penguin picture, this picture was taken in January 2006. However, if everything works out, new pictures will be made this year! More on that in a later post.

For now: Happy Penguin Awareness Day!