Is it true that penguins are birds

In this article we are doing to find penguin facts that penguins are birds. They have all of the defining characteristics of the Aves class. Let's see how

To answer this question, we’ll start by looking at how living things are classified.

Animal Classification

Emperor Penguins are birds that live in Antarctica

Scientists classify all living things into different groups. This makes studying living things easier, and also helps us to understand how species evolve. The largest groups are called ‘kingdoms’. There are at least five kingdoms; some scientific systems use six kingdoms.

Here is a list of the kingdoms of living things:

1. Monerans
2. Protists
3. Fungi
4. Plants
5. Animals

In America, the system is slightly different, and Monera are split into two groups: Archaea and Bacteria, making six kingdoms!

Every living thing can be placed into one of the kingdoms.

Penguins are in the Animal Kingdom. You can find out why on this page: Is a Bird an Animal?

Elephants, Snakes, Bumblebees … and Penguins

Penguins are birds that have evolved to swim not in the sky, but in the water!

Also in the animal kingdom are many other species, such as elephants, snakes and bumblebees. Clearly all of these animals have very different characteristics. This is why each group is further divided into smaller groups, all the way down until we arrive at the individual species.

Each classification level (or rank) has a different name.

The rank after Kingdom is Phylum. An example of a phylum is Chordata. Penguins are members of this Phylum, as are elephants and snakes.

However bumblebees do not possess the characteristics of this phylum, and are instead placed in the Arthropoda phylum. (Arthropods don’t have backbones, and have ‘exoskeletons’, which are external skeletons.)

The next rank down from phylum is class.

Elephants are placed in the Mammalia (mammal) class. Snakes find themselves in the Reptilia(reptile) class, while penguins are in the Aves (bird) class.

The Aves Class: Why Is A Penguin A Bird?

The Southern Cassowary is the world’s second heaviest, and third tallest, bird. Despite looking very unlike a penguin, it shares the characteristics that make them both members of the Aves (bird) class of animals. (Click on the photo to find out more about the Cassowary).

Characteristics of animals in the aves class – birds, in other words – include having feathers and beaks, lightweight skeletons and laying eggs with hard shells.

That sounds like a penguin

Although penguins are flightless birds – i.e. they can’t fly – they still possess all of the characteristics necessary to categorise them as birds.

Whereas most birds have wings, the penguin’s wings have evolved into flippers. Penguins use their flippers to ‘fly’ through the water in pursuit of fish and other creatures.

The classification system doesn’t stop at classes. Members of each class are further divided into other ranks: order, family, genus and – finally – species

(There are other ranks in between, but these are the main ones.)

Penguins are in the Sphenisciformes order, and the Spheniscidae family. This family includes several extinct species of penguin.

The Bald Eagle is species of bird in the Accipitridae family.

How many penguin species are there? Well, that’s a good question! There are between 18 and 20 species of penguin, depending on which scientist you believe. Scientists’ opinions differ on whether some of the species listed below are actually separate species in their own right, or just subspecies of existing species.

Any animal that has feathers, a beak, a lightweight skeleton and that lays eggs is a bird. This means that animals as different as ostriches, hummingbirds and penguins are all birds.

In the future, if anyone asks you are penguins birds?, you’ll know the answer!

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