Why are penguins birds?

Because of having the following characteristics, there are penguin facts that penguins are considered as birds

Birds are not defined by their ability to fly

Although this might be hard to believe, all birds can’t fly. And we’re not talking about the kind of birds who should be able to fly but never learn how to in their childhood. No, we’re talking about entire races of birds who can actually not fly.

Some birds have lost their ability to fly in the domestication process by humans. Chickens belong to this category. (Yes, believe it or not, pre-historic chickens used to be able to fly. Then came humans…. Just imagine, a big cock flying right at you, aiming for your.. yeah, let’s move on..)

Another example would be the peacock (what’s with birds and cocks?). They can’t fly either. They can just look beautiful. And often, in their quest to look as beautiful as possible, their vanity cost them their lives for not being able to flee from predators quickly enough.

But we’re getting off-topic here. The point is, something doesn’t have to be able to fly in order to be called a “bird”. So that objection can now be checked off the list.

Some birds can swim

Do you think that swimming birds are strange? It’s not as strange as it might seem at first.

Consider this. You’re in the park, a hot summer day. You walk around until you come across a pond. What’s there? BIRDS! SWIMMING!

Yes, they are called ducks (like our friend Donald, mentioned above). Or Swans. Or whatever else weird birds that can’t fly but can swim.

Penguins just take this swimming business one step further – by swimming underwater. That doesn’t make them “non-birds”.

Birds come in all shapes and forms

Moving on.. Under water, penguins look like airplanes

If this doesn't look like an airplane (with just a little bit of squinting), then I don't know what does.

If you look at a penguin swimming under water, and you squint a little, it with some effort you can actually make it look like an airplane. That is bird-like to me!

Or, you could actually stretch it a bit and say that they ARE in fact flying! The only difference is, instead of flying in a sea of air, they are flying in a sea of water. So there, penguins CAN swim!

Although not-flying doesn’t mean something is a non-bird, flying definitely makes something a bird! (Living creatures, that is, not planes and such.)

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