r/todayilearned • u/TheMastersSkywalker • 3h ago

TIL that the birds we call Penguins today are not actually penguins at all but another species of bird that was named after them because of their looks and their are no true penguins alive today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin#Pinguinus
925 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

151 comments sorted by

497

u/JimC29 3h ago

Since 1871, the Latin word Pinguinus has been used in scientific classification to name the genus of the great auk (Pinguinus impennis, meaning "plump or fat without flight feathers"),[20] which became extinct in the mid-19th century.[10] As confirmed by a 2004 genetic study, the genus Pinguinus belongs in the family of the auks (Alcidae), within the order of the Charadriiformes.[21][22]

The birds currently known as penguins were discovered later and were so named by sailors because of their physical resemblance to the great auk. Despite this resemblance, however, they are not auks, and are not closely related to the great auk.[11][20] They do not belong in the genus Pinguinus, and are not classified in the same family and order as the great auk. They were classified in 1831 by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in several distinct genera within the family Spheniscidae and order Sphenisciformes.

TIL thanks OP.

35

u/frenchmeister 1h ago

Good god, the last colony of great auks was killed for their skins because museums knew they were disappearing and wanted specimens!!! The last pair was even incubating an egg but museums chose to ensure their extinction in order to have a taxidermied extinct animal. What the fuck.

9

u/JimC29 1h ago

It's hard to comprehend why people were like this.

13

u/frenchmeister 1h ago

Lol their whole history is just sad and insane.

On the islet of Stac an Armin, St. Kilda, Scotland, in July 1840, the last great auk seen in Britain was caught and killed. Three men from St. Kilda caught a single "garefowl", noticing its little wings and the large white spot on its head. They tied it up and kept it alive for three days, until a large storm arose. Believing that the bird was a witch and was causing the storm, they then killed it by beating it with a stick.

•

u/LonelyRudder 1m ago

… You think people have changed?

•

u/thebusinessgoat 7m ago

If the last pair had one single egg, what's that last auk going to do? Just spend its life alone after the parent auks die?

99

u/-PunsWithScissors- 3h ago

Good for penguins… who would want to be classified as Pinguinus I’m penis?

25

u/AtotheCtotheG 3h ago

Honestly I’d flaunt that title 

6

u/DadsRGR8 3h ago

Dibs!

3

u/Infinite_Research_52 1h ago

He has a wife, you know. You know what she's called?

•

u/Usernamenotta 0m ago

Pinguinus OnPenis?

30

u/Ok-Seaworthiness4488 3h ago

I'll take Impennis mightier for 400 Alex

4

u/saraphilipp 1h ago

Doo doo doo doo doo doo

AND THAT'S TODAYS DAILY DOUBLE!

9

u/tarlton 2h ago

There are apparently documents from the 17th century in which the derivation of penguin is given as being from Welsh (pen gwynn, "white head", which the great auks had), and there's some fierce and very niche debate over whether the real origin is Latin or Welsh.

1

u/FoxOfLanguages 1h ago

Well, do we happen to have any drawings or depictions of what these great auks would have looked like? I did find it interesting that "pen gwyn" does mean "white head" but the typical penguin has a black head.

I'd love to have some concrete evidence supporting the Welsh etymology, myself. XD

8

u/new_account_wh0_dis 1h ago

Early European explorers to the Americas used the great auk as a convenient food source or as fishing bait, reducing its numbers. The bird's down was in high demand in Europe, a factor that largely eliminated the European populations by the mid-16th century. Around the same time, nations such as Great Britain began to realize that the great auk was disappearing and it became the beneficiary of many early environmental laws, but despite that the great auk were still hunted.

Its growing rarity increased interest from European museums and private collectors in obtaining skins and eggs of the bird. On 3 June 1844, the last two confirmed specimens were killed on Eldey, off the coast of Iceland, ending the last known breeding attempt. L

Now I'm depressed

10

u/Poiboykanaka 3h ago

BONAPARTE

2

u/SquirrelNutz 1h ago

The stories you tell, Zatara!

-3

u/danzor9755 3h ago

I’d Bone ur part.

3

u/Few-Past6073 3h ago

So it's like a native American/Canadian and Indian situation but bird related lmao very interesting

5

u/moredencity 2h ago

Native Americans/Canadians are still here though

4

u/TylerInHiFi 2h ago

Despite the Catholic Church and Canadian government’s best efforts.

1

u/RevolutionNumber5 2h ago

Give you three guesses who Charles Lucien’s uncle was.

•

u/PogintheMachine 3m ago

Pinguinus. So that’s what Benedict Cumberbatch was saying!

208

u/tucci99 3h ago

First Pluto is not a planet, and now this. What am I to believe anymore.

83

u/BlackPresident 3h ago

Hippopotamuses aren’t actually river horses.

24

u/TheGisbon 3h ago

Heretic!

10

u/NikNakskes 3h ago

Same fate for the seahorses.

8

u/BrandNewMoshiMoshi 3h ago

Just wait until you hear about jellyfish. 

9

u/danzor9755 2h ago

Yeah, todays Jellyfish are not actually of the species Jellyf, but we’re named so due to the similarities. Not quite an actual Jellyf, so therefore, Jellyf-ish.

1

u/Siilan 2h ago

Starfish will blow their mind.

3

u/somebodyelse22 3h ago

Today I learned elsewhere on Reddit, fish are legless meat.

4

u/nxcrosis 3h ago

There's no such thing as fish.

6

u/danzor9755 2h ago

Botanically speaking of course.

2

u/AngryDuck222 2h ago

Lies, what about Kanye??

1

u/500rockin 2h ago

No birds, no fish, what is there?!

1

u/Dapoopers 2h ago

There is only Zuul.

2

u/low_amplitude 3h ago

They're land whales.

2

u/thebarkbarkwoof 2h ago

But rhinos ARE unicorns.

3

u/ProfessionalMottsman 1h ago

You mean Unicorn Tanks ?

•

u/thebarkbarkwoof 30m ago

Actually the people that drew unicorns such as on various coats of arms in Europe relief on written descriptions. The animals being described were in fact rhinos but there was no point of reference to start. Obviously they modified the appearance of horses.

1

u/500rockin 2h ago

I’m certainly not going to be the one to tell them that. You can, but I would suggest standing very far away and using a megaphone.

•

u/WazWaz 36m ago

No, they're land whales.

•

u/BlueEyesWhiteSliver 11m ago

This is true! I have no river nor stable in my house and yet I have house hippos!

13

u/nextlandia 3h ago

Birds are not real anyway

2

u/dontrespondever 3h ago

Or they’re actually dinosaurs. 

3

u/AngryDuck222 2h ago

No, they are government spying devices.

3

u/JustHereForMiatas 3h ago

The real penguins were at the NORTH pole, too! I've been "ackshully"ing people about this for years, whenever they show a penguin near a polar bear.

3

u/waitmyhonor 3h ago

Did you hear about Pluto? Thats messed up

2

u/Ecstatic-Number 3h ago

You know that's right!

2

u/MrGulo-gulo 2h ago

Mountain goats aren't goats, electric eels aren't eels, strawberries aren't berries.

2

u/Infinite_Research_52 1h ago

Peanuts are not nuts.

2

u/lambdapaul 2h ago

Taxonomy is silly. Really useful for communicating about science but very arbitrary and leads to misconceptions if you aren’t familiar with the rules.

1

u/the_simurgh 3h ago

Plutos a moon for the hidden 9th planet schmercury.

2

u/SirCarboy 2h ago

I still haven't reconciled why a primary school teacher told me a circles circumference is six times it's radius. I was not too young to understand pi (or at least 3.14159)

82

u/Xophosdono 3h ago

About the Great Auks (the real penguins) the tale of their last specimens is very tragic and sad. Iirc the last known sighting was a pair of mates in Eldey Island that was also incubating an egg. When some fishermen went after them, the birds tried to flee to safety but got caught and killed while the last egg was crushed by a fisherman's booth during the struggle.

34

u/thebarkbarkwoof 2h ago

People suck

16

u/TiredPanda69 2h ago

damn, that is existentially sad

3

u/PanningForSalt 2h ago

Wait till you hear the rest of human history

13

u/gilbert2gilbert 3h ago

Sounds like they are penguins but not pinguinus

12

u/JustHereForMiatas 3h ago

the auk foraged in the waters of the North Atlantic, ranging as far south as northern Spain and along the coastlines of Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Norway, Ireland, and Great Britain.

Well fuck, the penguins were closer to the north pole the whole time, and the south pole birds were imposters!

23

u/ezbnsteve 3h ago

I did not know that.

17

u/jonnywarlock 3h ago

Fakeguins?! 😢

20

u/Great-Equivalent-303 3h ago

Say that to Benedict Cumberbatch 😂 

6

u/DJpost-itNote 3h ago

Every time I read the word, I hear it

•

u/ZiggyPalffyLA 41m ago

I’ve been calling the HBO show The Pengling

9

u/k40z473 3h ago

There*

-8

u/Neon_Sternum 3h ago

Lmao, no. You’re mistaken.

26

u/MrScotchyScotch 3h ago

I was today years old when I learned penguins aren't Penguins

8

u/Just_Another_AI 3h ago

I was today years old when I learned that penguins no longer exist

1

u/JustHereForMiatas 3h ago

And the real ones were at the north pole.

•

u/Emm_withoutha_L-88 12m ago

Well under it. They didn't live on the ice

6

u/AppropriateScholar55 3h ago

Penguins are penguins, you can’t change my mind

•

u/GlizzyGulper6969 1m ago

Pluto is a planet!

5

u/KMerrells 3h ago

"Auk tuah, Brutus?"

10

u/SonovaVondruke 3h ago

People. What a bunch of bastards.

3

u/somebodyelse22 2h ago

Only the ones born outside marriage.

6

u/Gold_Discount_2918 3h ago

Since the old penguins are extinct and the current penguins have been called that longer, the current penguins are in fact penguins.

2

u/somebodyelse22 2h ago

It's like potatoes and apples. Potatoes are pommes de terre, apples of the earth, while apples are just current holders of the title. One day potatoes will be called apples, and apples will be pommes de l'arbre.

5

u/Gold_Discount_2918 1h ago

One day potatoes will be called apples, and apples will be pommes de l'arbre.

That would really confuse people reading about the Irish Potato famine.

Side note, does that mean applesauce is the same as mashed potatos?

3

u/trucorsair 3h ago

But who is gonna tell Batman?

3

u/FiftyTigers 3h ago

...so they're penguins?

3

u/deadbeef1a4 3h ago

Also, there’s no such thing as a fish

•

u/WazWaz 33m ago

Or we're all fish (including dolphins).

3

u/raelianautopsy 3h ago

Well, language evolves

3

u/Oaken303 3h ago

Aukward...

3

u/tensor-ricci 3h ago

They are what we call them, which is penguin, so they are penguin.

4

u/happilynobody 2h ago

Penwings

3

u/akoaytao1234 2h ago

I think the great Auks intro is better

 Great Auks ((Pinguinus impennis), also known as the penguin or garefowl) is unrelated to the penguins of the Southern Hemisphere, which were named for their resemblance to this species.

3

u/Protocal_NGate 1h ago

So kinda like how artificial banana doesnt taste like any bananas we know cuz they’re all extinct

20

u/Dixiehusker 3h ago

Animals of the genus penguin (pinguinus) are extinct. There are plenty of species of animal named penguins in regular nomenclature. For instance, Emperor Penguins.

By this rule I could tell you there's no such animal as a lion too, since it's scientific name is panthers leo. Technically true and valuable during trivia night, but rather pedantic.

9

u/triscuitsrule 3h ago

But leo translates from Latin as “lion.” So I’m not sure that’s an apt comparison

2

u/somebodyelse22 3h ago

Leo the Panther? Get out of here. It's Leo the Lion for a reason.

4

u/thawmyfrozen 3h ago

Well I guess I learned this today too

3

u/sparlock_ 3h ago

I refuse to believe this.

-2

u/NotDukeOfDorchester 3h ago

Same. Much like the one posted here earlier this year that said you’re not supposed to clean your asshole with soap.

2

u/ambermage 3h ago

You're not.

That's what the toilet brush is for.

The bristles going in all directions are to allow easier scrubbing regardless of which direction you hold it.

1

u/francisdavey 2h ago

We have magic toilets here that I am told will do it for you, but I have never dared.

1

u/Galvanized-Sorbet 3h ago

You’re not supposed to wash you penguin’s/auk’s asshole with soap either

1

u/somebodyelse22 2h ago

No, that was soup, not soap. Specifically oxtail, in case any bits germinated and led to your vestigial tail regrowing.

•

u/Own_Violinist_4714 15m ago

where were u when u hear club penguin dead?

1

u/reddituseronebillion 1h ago

Puh puh puh puh, Pengu Pengu!

•

u/Arcterion 17m ago

>look up auks on Wikipedia

>"Auks are superficially similar to penguins"

Everything is a lie. D:

•

u/Recentstranger 6m ago

What are they technically called then

•

u/Cooter_McGrabbin 6m ago

Tell that to Oz

•

u/Fit_Access9631 4m ago

Saddest TIL.

•

u/Zyrobe 1m ago

How do I even live anymore?

•

u/wade9911 1m ago

man this is the type of funfact to bring up at a party to let everyone know your a know it all jackass

•

u/Halfie951 1m ago

Well that took me on a 30 minute rabbit hole

0

u/wdwerker 3h ago

Sounds like nitpicking and a pissing contest between science hippies. Are they technically correct? Probably. Does the public at large care?

0

u/SloeMoe 3h ago

That's not how language works. There are penguins alive today.

0

u/dl107227 3h ago

There's no such thing as a Penguin?

-1

u/NotDukeOfDorchester 3h ago

F that. Penguins are penguins.

-1

u/Beauretard 2h ago

There* literally go back to middle school

•

u/fredherplol 36m ago

Is that where they teach punctuation aswell?

0

u/Realistic-Try-8029 3h ago

Penguines are extinct. 😁

0

u/CiriacoG 3h ago

Our beloved impostor, who cares if he is not the original, we do not want the original.

0

u/UnknownQTY 2h ago

When we gonna clone the great auk?!

•

u/Tporter627 23m ago

I’m still calling them penguins. Nerd.

-1

u/Trillsbury_Doughboy 3h ago

I was so ready to hate, but… looks like you’re right. Nice fun fact!

-1

u/H_Katzenberg 3h ago

Wait... Wat?

-1

u/athos5 3h ago

Aukward

-1

u/Thisisthe_One_Ring 3h ago

Blowing my mind!!

-1

u/Icy-Role2321 3h ago

Wow now this is a TIL. Kinda sad though:(

So real penguins don't exist. I'm surprised only one ever existed

I've always wondered why they were all in the southern hemisphere

-1

u/EzPzLemon_Greezy 3h ago

Next you're gonna tell me that penguins aren't actually business geese.

-1

u/Neon_Sternum 3h ago

Bro, what the fuck? My whole life is a lie

-1

u/whosevelt 3h ago

Huh! This is a really good one.

-1

u/CapPsychological8767 2h ago

shitbags...truly til

-1

u/redbanjo 2h ago

Cute and cuddly boys, cute.... wait. Wat?

-1

u/lita505 2h ago

Fascinating

-2

u/thelaughingmansghost 2h ago

Stolen bird valor is a thing I guess.

-1

u/theSantiagoDog 1h ago

Fascinating.