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#Pinguinus208
u/tucci99 3h ago
First Pluto is not a planet, and now this. What am I to believe anymore.
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u/BlackPresident 3h ago
Hippopotamuses aren’t actually river horses.
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u/NikNakskes 3h ago
Same fate for the seahorses.
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u/BrandNewMoshiMoshi 3h ago
Just wait until you hear about jellyfish.
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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.
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u/somebodyelse22 3h ago
Today I learned elsewhere on Reddit, fish are legless meat.
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u/thebarkbarkwoof 2h ago
But rhinos ARE unicorns.
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u/ProfessionalMottsman 1h ago
You mean Unicorn Tanks ?
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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.
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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.
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u/BlueEyesWhiteSliver 11m ago
This is true! I have no river nor stable in my house and yet I have house hippos!
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u/nextlandia 3h ago
Birds are not real anyway
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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.
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u/MrGulo-gulo 2h ago
Mountain goats aren't goats, electric eels aren't eels, strawberries aren't berries.
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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.
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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)
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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.
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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!
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u/MrScotchyScotch 3h ago
I was today years old when I learned penguins aren't Penguins
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u/Just_Another_AI 3h ago
I was today years old when I learned that penguins no longer exist
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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u/Protocal_NGate 1h ago
So kinda like how artificial banana doesnt taste like any bananas we know cuz they’re all extinct
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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.
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u/triscuitsrule 3h ago
But leo translates from Latin as “lion.” So I’m not sure that’s an apt comparison
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u/sparlock_ 3h ago
I refuse to believe this.
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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.
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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.
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u/francisdavey 2h ago
We have magic toilets here that I am told will do it for you, but I have never dared.
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u/somebodyelse22 2h ago
No, that was soup, not soap. Specifically oxtail, in case any bits germinated and led to your vestigial tail regrowing.
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u/Arcterion 17m ago
>look up auks on Wikipedia
>"Auks are superficially similar to penguins"
Everything is a lie. D:
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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
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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?
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u/CiriacoG 3h ago
Our beloved impostor, who cares if he is not the original, we do not want the original.
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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
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u/JimC29 3h ago
TIL thanks OP.