Gentoo penguin

The application of "gentoo" to the penguin is unclear. Gentoo was an Anglo-Indian term to distinguish Hindus from Muslims.{{Cite book |last1=Dalgado |first1=Sebastião Rodolfo Dalgado |title=Portuguese vocables in Asiatic languages: from the Portuguese original of Monsignor Sebastião Rodolfo Dalgado, Volume 1 |last2=Soares |first2=Anthony Xavier |date=1988 |publisher=Asian Educational Services |isbn=9788120604131 |pages=167–16}} The English term may have originated from the Portuguese gentio ("pagan, gentile"). Some speculate that the white patch on the bird's head was thought to resemble a turban.

It may also be a variation of another name for this bird, "Johnny penguin", with Johnny being the Spanish counterpart of {{lang|es|Juanito}} and sounding vaguely like gentoo.{{cite book|last=Chester|first=Jonathan|title=Penguins: Birds of Distinction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6HIXAQAAIAAJ|year=1996|publisher=Penguin Books|location=Australia|isbn=978-0-14-025968-1|page=42|quote= Until the 1930s, the gentoo was generally known in the Falklands as the Johnny penguin.}}{{cite encyclopedia |title=gentoo penguin |dictionary=American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |edition=5 |url=https://www.thefreedictionary.com/gentoo+penguin}}{{cite book|last=Beaglehole|first=J.C.|author-link=J.C. Beaglehole|title=The Journals of Captain James Cook on his Voyages of Discovery|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XCQxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT910|volume=II|year=2017|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-351-54324-8|page=910|quote= In the 18th century, English-speaking sealers commonly called [the gentoo] the Johnny penguin. The Spanish translation of this was Juanito, which has degenerated into gentoo.}} The Johnny rook, a predator, is likely named after the Johnny penguin.{{cite book|last=Gorman|first=James|title=The Total Penguin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2TVHAAAAYAAJ|year=1990|publisher=Prentice Hall|isbn=978-0-13-925041-5|page=87|quote= Sealers called it the "Johnny penguin" or "John penguin." In that incarnation, it seems to have given its name to the striated caracara, a bird of prey that feeds on young gentoo penguins in the Falklands and is called the "Johnny rook".}}

The specific name papua is a misnomer; in the original description, Johann Reinhold Forster, a naturalist who had circumnavigated the world with Captain James Cook, mistakenly assumed that the species occurred in Papua (New Guinea), the closest gentoos being over 6000 km to the south (on Macquarie Island).{{cite book|last=Campbell|first=David G.|title=The Crystal Desert: Summers in Antarctica|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E-p9KuhqhPUC&pg=PT278|year=2002|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-547-52761-1|page=278}} No penguins are found in New Guinea.{{cite book|last=Troelstra|first=Anne S.|title=Bibliography of Natural History Travel Narratives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HaclDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA411|year=2017|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-34378-8|pages=411–}} Others trace the error to a "possibly fraudulent claim" in 1776 by French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat, who also alleged a Papuan location for the king penguin despite never having been to the island himself.{{cite book|last1=Gray|first1=Jeannie|last2=Fraser|first2=Ian|title=Australian Bird Names|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W1TCqHVWQp0C&pg=PT42|year=2013|publisher=Csiro|isbn=978-0-643-10471-6|page=42}}

The gentoo penguin is one of three species in the genus Pygoscelis. Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA evidence suggests the genus split from other penguins around 38 million years ago (Mya), about 2 million years after the ancestors of the genus Aptenodytes. In turn, the Adélie penguins split off from the other members of the genus around 19 Mya and the chinstrap and gentoo finally diverged around 14 Mya.{{cite journal |vauthors=Baker AJ, Pereira SL, Haddrath OP, Edge KA |year=2006|title=Multiple gene evidence for the expansion of extant penguins out of Antarctica due to global cooling |journal=Proc Biol Sci |volume=273 |issue=1582|pages=11–17|doi=10.1098/rspb.2005.3260 |pmid=16519228 |pmc=1560011}}

There are 4 subspecies recognized by the International Ornithological Congress:{{Cite web |title=Kagu, Sunbittern, tropicbirds, loons, penguins – IOC World Bird List |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/loons/ |access-date=2022-06-11 |language=en-US}}

Although the population on the Kerguelen Islands is tentatively included in taeniata, it may also be a distinct subspecies.{{Cite web |title=Subspecies Updates – IOC World Bird List |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/updates/subspecies-2/ |access-date=2022-06-11 |language=en-US}}

Before 2021, only two subspecies of the gentoo penguin had been recognised: P. p. papua (subantarctic gentoo) and the smaller P. p. ellsworthi (Antarctic gentoo).{{Cite web|url=http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=66969|access-date=2019-12-12|author=environment.gov.au|title=Pygoscelis papua papua — Gentoo Penguin (subantarctic)}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=174447#null|access-date=2019-12-12|author=itis.gov|title=Pygoscelis papua (J. R. Forster, 1781)}} However, a 2020 study suggested that the gentoo penguin be split into a species complex of four morphologically similar but separate species: the northern gentoo penguin (P. papua sensu stricto), the southern gentoo penguin (P. ellsworthi), the eastern gentoo penguin (P. taeniata) and the newly described South Georgia gentoo penguin (P. poncetii).{{Cite journal|last1=Tyler|first1=Joshua|last2=Bonfitto|first2=Matthew T.|last3=Clucas|first3=Gemma V.|last4=Reddy|first4=Sushma|last5=Younger|first5=Jane L.|date=2020|title=Morphometric and genetic evidence for four species of gentoo penguin|url= |journal=Ecology and Evolution|language=en|volume=10|issue=24|pages=13836–13846|doi=10.1002/ece3.6973|pmid=33391684|issn=2045-7758|pmc=7771148|bibcode=2020EcoEv..1013836T }}{{Cite journal|last1=Pertierra|first1=Luis R.|last2=Segovia|first2=Nicolás I.|last3=Noll|first3=Daly|last4=Martinez|first4=Pablo A.|last5=Pliscoff|first5=Patricio|last6=Barbosa|first6=Andrés|last7=Aragón|first7=Pedro|last8=Rey|first8=Andrea Raya|last9=Pistorius|first9=Pierre|last10=Trathan|first10=Phil|last11=Polanowski|first11=Andrea|date=2020|title=Cryptic speciation in gentoo penguins is driven by geographic isolation and regional marine conditions: Unforeseen vulnerabilities to global change|journal=Diversity and Distributions|language=en|volume=26|issue=8|pages=958–975|doi=10.1111/ddi.13072|bibcode=2020DivDi..26..958P |issn=1472-4642|doi-access=free|hdl=11336/141106|hdl-access=free}} The International Ornithological Congress incorporated the results of this study in 2021, but relegated the newly recognized or newly described species to subspecies of P. papua.

File:Gentoo-Colony.jpg, Falkland Islands]]

The gentoo penguin is easily recognised by the wide, white stripe extending like a bonnet across the top of its head and its bright orange-red bill. It has pale whitish-pink, webbed feet and a fairly long tail – the most prominent tail of all penguin species. Chicks have grey backs with white fronts. As the gentoo penguin waddles along on land, its tail sticks out behind, sweeping from side to side, hence the scientific name Pygoscelis, which means "rump-tailed".{{cite web|url=http://www.arkive.org/gentoo-penguin/pygoscelis-papua/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090520085242/http://www.arkive.org/gentoo-penguin/pygoscelis-papua/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2009-05-20|title=Gentoo penguin videos, photos and facts – Pygoscelis papua|website=Arkive}}

File:Falkland Islands Penguins 45.jpg]]

Gentoo penguins can reach a length of {{Convert|70|to|90|cm|abbr = on}},{{cite web|url=http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Pygoscelis_papua.html|title=Pygoscelis papua (gentoo penguin)|website=Animal Diversity Web}}{{Cite web |url=http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/peter_and_Barbara_Barham/GENTOO.htm |title=Gentoo Penguin – Pygoscelis Papua |access-date=2008-09-23|author1=Barham, Peter |author2= Barham, Barbara |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080920031831/http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Peter_and_Barbara_Barham/gentoo.htm |archive-date=2008-09-20 |url-status=dead }} making them the third-largest species of penguin after the emperor penguin and the king penguin. Males have a maximum weight around {{Convert|8.5|kg|abbr=on}} just before moulting and a minimum weight of about {{Convert|4.9|kg|abbr=on}} just before mating. For females, the maximum weight is {{Convert|8.2|kg|abbr=on}} just before moulting, but their weight drops to as little as {{Convert|4.5|kg|abbr=on}} when guarding the chicks in the nest.{{cite web|url=http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/birds/Pygoscelis_papua/more_info.html?section=factsAndStatus|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120718020909/http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/birds/Pygoscelis_papua/more_info.html?section=factsAndStatus|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-07-18|title=Gentoo penguin videos, photos and facts – Pygoscelis papua|website=Arkive}} Birds from the north are on average {{Convert|700|g|lb|abbr = on}} heavier and {{Convert|10|cm|abbr = on}} longer than the southern birds. Southern gentoo penguins reach {{convert|75|–|80|cm|in|abbr=on}} in length.{{cite web|url=http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/wildlife/gentoo_penguin.htm|title=Antarctica fact file wildlife, gentoo penguins|website=coolantarctica.com}} They are the fastest underwater swimmers of all penguins, reaching speeds up to {{Convert|36|km/h|abbr=on}}.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Gentoo_Penguin|title=Gentoo penguin|work=BBC Nature|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205133021/http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Gentoo_Penguin|archive-date=2012-02-05}} Gentoos are well adapted to extremely cold and harsh climates.

File:Pygoscelis papua MWNH 0520.JPG]]

File:Pygoscelis papua -Jougla Point, Wiencke Island, Palmer Archipelago -adults and chicks-8.jpg, Palmer Archipelago, off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula]]

The breeding colonies of gentoo penguins are located on ice-free surfaces. Settlements can be located directly on the shoreline or considerably inland. They prefer shallow coastal areas and often nest between tufts of grass. In South Georgia, for example, breeding colonies are 2 km inland. In colonies farther inland, where the penguins nest in grassy areas, they shift location slightly yearly because the grass becomes trampled over time.

Gentoos breed on many subantarctic islands. The main colonies are on the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Kerguelen Islands; smaller colonies are found on: Macquarie Island, Heard Islands, Crozet Islands, South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula. The total breeding population is estimated to be over 600,000 birds. Nests are usually made from a roughly circular pile of stones and can be quite large, {{Convert|20|cm|abbr=on}} high and {{Convert|25|cm|abbr=on}} in diameter. The stones are jealously guarded, and their ownership can be the subject of noisy disputes and physical attacks between individuals. They are also prized by the females, even to the point that a male penguin can obtain the favours of a female by offering her a choice stone.

Two eggs are laid, both weighing around {{Convert|130|g|abbr=on}}. The parents share incubation, changing duty daily. The eggs hatch after 34 to 36 days. The chicks remain in the nests for around 30 days before joining other chicks in the colony and forming crèches. The chicks moult into subadult plumage and go out to sea at around 80 to 100 days.

Gentoos mainly live on fish, crustaceans such as krill and shrimp, and cephalopods.{{cite web | title=Pygoscelis papua (gentoo penguin) | website=Animal Diversity Web | date=2011 | url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Pygoscelis_papua/ | access-date=2024-04-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231005013009if_/https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Pygoscelis_papua/|archive-date=2023-10-05}} In February and March, crustaceans make up about 10% of the diet, but from March to June, it is about 75%. From June to October, grey rockcod (Lepidonotothen squamifrons) make up 90% of their diet. Cephalopods make up only 10% of the diet throughout the year.

Gentoos are opportunistic feeders, and around the Falklands are known to take roughly equal proportions of fish (Patagonotothen sp., Thysanopsetta naresi, Micromesistius australis), squat lobsters (Munida gregaria) and squid (Loligo gahi, Gonatus antarcticus, Moroteuthis ingens). Other prey include Channichthys rhinoceratus and octopuses.

File:Gentoo Penguin AdF.jpg The gentoos' diet is high in salt, as they eat organisms with relatively the same salinity as seawater, which can lead to complications associated with high sodium concentrations in the body, especially for gentoo chicks. To counteract this, gentoos, as well as many other marine bird species, have a highly developed salt gland located above their eyes that takes the high concentration of sodium within the body and produces a highly saline-concentrated solution that drips out of the body from the tip of the beak.{{cite journal|author=Schmidt-Nielsen, K. |title=The Salt-Secreting Gland of Marine Birds|journal=Circulation|volume=21|issue=5|pages=955–967|doi=10.1161/01.cir.21.5.955|pmid=14443123|year=1960|doi-access=free}}

Gentoo penguins do not store as much fat as Adélie penguins, their closest relative; gentoos require less energy investment when hunting because the net gain of energy after hunting is greater in gentoos than Adélies.{{cite journal|author1=D’Amico, V. L.|author2= Coria, N.|author3= Palacios, M. G.|author4= Barbosa, A.|author5= Bertellotti, M. |title=Physiological differences between two overlapped breeding Antarctic penguins in a global change perspective|journal=Polar Biology|volume=39|pages=57–64|doi=10.1007/s00300-014-1604-9|year=2016|issue= 1|bibcode= 2016PoBio..39...57D|hdl=10261/156947|s2cid=17563166|hdl-access=free}} As embryos, gentoos require a lot of energy to develop. Oxygen consumption is high for a developing gentoo embryo. As the embryo grows and requires more oxygen, consumption increases exponentially until the gentoo chick hatches. By then, the chick is consuming around 1800 ml O₂ per day.{{cite journal|author=Actams, N. J. |title= Embryonic metabolism, energy budgets and cost of production of the king Aptenodytes patagonicus and gentoo Pygoscelis papua penguin eggs|journal= Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Physiology|volume= 101|issue= 3|pages= 497–503|doi=10.1016/0300-9629(92)90501-g|year= 1992}}

File:Brown Skua snatches Gentoo Penguin Chick (5751218963).jpg (Stercorarius antarcticus) attacking a gentoo chick at Godthul, South Georgia]]

In the sea, leopard seals, sea lions and killer whales are all predators of the gentoo. On land, no predators of full-grown, healthy gentoo penguins exist. Skuas and giant petrels regularly kill many chicks and steal eggs; petrels kill injured and sick adult gentoos. Various other seabirds, such as the kelp gull and snowy sheathbill, also snatch chicks and eggs. Skuas on King George Island have been observed attacking and injuring adult gentoo penguins in apparent territorial disputes.February 2014 observation and photo report by Robert Runyard, translator for INACH (Chilean Antarctic Institute).

The population of Pygoscelis papua in the maritime Antarctic is rapidly increasing. Due to regional climate changes, they colonise previously inaccessible territories southwards. {{As of|2019}}, the IUCN Red List lists the gentoo as least concerned with a stable population trend, although rapid declines in some key areas are believed to be driving a moderate overall decline in the species population. Examples include Bird Island, South Georgia, where the population has fallen by two-thirds over 25 years. Many threats to this species, including pollution, hunting, fishing and human recreational activities continue to affect them.{{Cite web|last=International)|first=BirdLife International (BirdLife|date=2019-08-28|title=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Pygoscelis papua|url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/en|access-date=2021-05-25|website=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species}}{{cite journal |last1=Dykyy |first1=Ihor |last2=Bedernichek |first2=Tymur |title=Gentoo Penguins (Pygoscelis papua) started using mosses as nesting material in the southernmost colony on the Antarctic Peninsula (Cape Tuxen, Graham Land) |date=2021-11-17 |doi=10.1007/s00300-021-02968-4 |url=https://i-share-uic.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CARLI_UIC/1b4dsmk/cdi_gale_infotracacademiconefile_A715536576|journal = Polar Biology|volume=45|issue=1|page=149|s2cid=253816909 |url-access=subscription }}

The Linux distribution Gentoo Linux is named after the gentoo penguin. This is a nod to the fact that the penguin is the fastest swimming penguin, as Gentoo Linux aims to be a high-performance operating system.{{cite book|author=Negus, Christopher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqXiuPySGg8C&pg=PA389|title=Linux Bible: Boot Up to Ubuntu, Fedora, KNOPPIX, Debian, openSUSE, and 11 Other Distributions|date=5 May 2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-470-28706-4|pages=389–}}{{rp|383}} The mascot for Linux in general is a penguin.

The 2011 film adaption of Mr. Popper's Penguins features six gentoo penguins named Captain, Lovey, Loudy, Bitey, Stinky, and Nimrod.

File:Gentoo-and-bird.jpg|Adult gentoo confronting a southern giant petrel (Macronectes giganteus) that has killed a chick

File:Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua) on nest.jpg|Gentoo penguin on a nest

File:Gentoo Penguin Swimming.jpg|A gentoo penguin swimming

File:Gentoo penguin juvenile Petermann Island.jpg| Juvenile gentoos on Petermann Island

File:Pygoscelis papua on Carcass Island 1.jpg|Gentoo colony on Carcass Island in the Falklands

File:Gentoo and Magellanic Penguins (5560563634).jpg|Gentoo penguin leading a group of Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) on Saunders Island

File:GentooPenguinPredation.jpg|A leopard seal eating an adult gentoo

{{Reflist}}

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{{Commons and category|Pygoscelis papua|Pygoscelis papua}}

{{Wikispecies|Pygoscelis papua|Pygoscelis papua}}

• [https://archive.today/20060316081704/http://www.70south.com/resources/antarctic-animals/antarctic-penguins/gentoopenguin 70South – more info on the gentoo penguin]
• [https://penguinworld.com/types/gentoo.html Gentoo penguin on PenguinWorld]
• [http://www.penguins.cl/gentoo-penguins.htm Gentoo penguins from the International Penguin Conservation website]
• [http://www.pinguins.info www.pinguins.info: information about all species of penguins]
• [http://www.thomasoneil.com/species2.php?n=61 Gentoo penguin images]
• [http://www.martingrund.de/pinguine/ Gentoo penguin webcam from the Antarctic] – worldwide first webcam with wild penguins; photo quality
• {{ARKive}}

{{Penguins}}

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gentoo penguin

Category:Birds of Antarctica

Category:Birds of islands of the Atlantic Ocean

Category:Birds of subantarctic islands

Category:Birds of the Southern Ocean

Category:Fauna of Heard Island and McDonald Islands

Category:Fauna of the Crozet Islands

Category:Fauna of the Prince Edward Islands

Category:Flightless birds

Category:Fauna of Macquarie Island

gentoo penguin

gentoo penguin