Q 01/05

What is the name for the way penguins leap clear of the water while swimming at speed?

A) Porpoising

B) Lobtailing

C) Skimming

D) Spyhopping

Answer · why

A) Porpoising

Porpoising lets a penguin snatch a breath without losing speed, which is why fast-travelling dolphins and seals move in exactly the same way.

Q 02/05

Penguins were named by European explorers after which unrelated, now-extinct Northern Hemisphere seabird?

A) The great auk

B) The dodo

C) The Labrador duck

D) The passenger pigeon

Answer · why

A) The great auk

The great auk was the original 'penguin': explorers who later met similar-looking birds in the south reused the name, and hunters killed the last know...

Q 03/05

What do penguins primarily eat?

A) Seaweed and kelp

B) Crabs, clams and mussels

C) Fish, krill, and squid

D) Urchins and sea stars

Answer · why

C) Fish, krill, and squid

Fish, krill, and squid are swallowed whole as the penguin swims; stiff, backward-pointing spines on the tongue stop slippery prey from wriggling free.

Q 04/05

A group of penguins swimming together at sea is sometimes called what?

A) A raft

B) A pod

C) A school

D) A fleet

Answer · why

A) A raft

A raft is also what Australia's little penguins form at dusk: they gather on the water offshore, wait for the light to fade, then cross the beach toge...

Q 05/05

What is a group of penguins called?

A) A flock

B) A colony

C) A pack

D) A herd

Answer · why

B) A colony

Colonies range from about 100 gentoo pairs to several hundred thousand kings or macaronis. Only the yellow-eyed and Fiordland species nest apart from ...