PENGUINS are flightless birds that live only in Antarctica. The first "penguins" were not what we call penguins today.
The great auk, black-and-white birds that lived near the North Pole, were called penguins, and later when explorers got to Antarctica, they called the black-and-white birds they saw there "penguins" too.
When the great auk became extinct in 1944, the southern birds inherited sole ownership of the name.
bigsiteofamazingfacts.com; answers.yahoo.com; kidzworld.com
Black-and-white birds
PENGUINS are flightless birds that live only in Antarctica. The first "penguins" were not what we call penguins today.
The great auk, black-and-white birds that lived near the North Pole, were called penguins, and later when explorers got to Antarctica, they called the black-and-white birds they saw there "penguins" too.
When the great auk became extinct in 1944, the southern birds inherited sole ownership of the name.
bigsiteofamazingfacts.com; answers.yahoo.com; kidzworld.com