Penguins are popular around the world for their unusually upright, waddling gait, their cuteness, their swimming ability and (compared with other birds) their lack of fear toward humans.[1] Their striking black and white plumage is often likened to a white tie suit and generates humorous remarks about the bird being "well dressed".[2]
Penguins had a resurgence as figures in pop culture in the mid-2000s thanks to films like March of the Penguins, Madagascar, Happy Feet, and Surf's Up.[3] As an April Fools' Day joke, on April 1, 2008 the BBC released a short film of penguins in flight and migrating to the South American rainforest.
Portrayals
The penguin is typically depicted as a friendly and comical figure, with considerable dignity despite its physical limitations. Perhaps in reaction to this cute stereotype, fictional penguins are sometimes presented as irritable or even sinister. Examples include the cute yet somewhat surly Sanrio character Badtz Maru and the penguins in the movie Madagascar, intelligent creatures with devious schemes and plans, who are even capable of defeating humans. Penguins are also often portrayed as friendly and smart, for example in the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, which features a warm-water penguin named Pen Pen.
The 1960s television cartoon character Tennessee Tuxedo would often escape the confines of his zoo with his partner, Chumley the walrus.
In the online role-playing game RuneScape, penguins are portrayed as devious characters with a background reminiscent of the Soviet Union: their capital is Palingrad (suggesting Stalingrad); they have KGP (compare KGB) agents; and they refer to their homeland as the "Motherland". One quest in which they feature is called "Cold War" and the next is called "The Hunt for Red Raktuber", a play on The Hunt for Red October. They have an enormous military complex with training facilities, living areas, interrogation rooms and agility courses. They have plans for domination similar to the penguins in Madagascar.
Yellow-eyed, Fiordland and little penguins are prominent in Māori mythology, where they are known as hoiho, tawaki and kororā respectively. The tawaki in particular is associated with a myth in which it walked among humans until it revealed its divinity by wearing lightning, hence the explanation for the bird's yellow crest.[4]
Logos and mascots
The friendly, slightly comical image of the penguin has often been used by companies and organisations for logos and mascots.
Diego the penguin is the mascot of Diegos Tartan Army, based in Inverness. Named after soccer player Diego Maradona, he was adopted in Lithuania by members of the Tartan Army, who follow the Scottish football team abroad.[5]
The Penguin is the mascot of choice for the British-American Rock Band Fleetwood Mac, and was the name of the first of two albums from 1973. (see Penguin)
Tux the penguin is used as a symbol of Linux. The original image of Tux was drawn by Larry Ewing. Tux is often depicted, in a variety of different attire, in different Linux distributions and programs that feature him as a mascot. He also features in many video games, along with female counterparts Penny and Gown.
Penguin Books, a publisher of paperback books, uses a penguin in its name and logo.
Penguen (Turkish for penguin), a Turkish satirical magazine, uses a penguin in its logo.
Politics
Supporters and collaborators of Argentine president Néstor Kirchner are known informally as pingüinos, and pingüino (Spanish for "penguin") is the nickname of Kirchner himself, alluding to his birthplace in the cold southern region of Patagonia.[6][7]
In 2009, the vice-chair of The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), a pro-Beijing party in Hong Kong, hosted an episode of an opinion talk show, in the opening of which he mistakenly began by describing the North Pole as a place with few people and many penguins. Although this was edited out in reruns of the episode, it had already caught the attention many supporters of democracy, and they ridiculed the vice-chair and the entire DAB for it, saying that it is common knowledge that penguins are native to only the south, and that if the next generation of party leaders should have such poor general knowledge, it would be questionable for them to lead Hong Kong. This was but one in a long series of incidents that drew ridicule and criticism to the DAB.[citation needed]
Penguins became the symbol of the 2013 protests in Turkey, after CNN Türk broadcast a documentary about penguins during the protests.
Despite what commercials and other popular sources may show, penguins and polar bears are found on opposite hemispheres. Polar bears inhabit the Northern Hemisphere,[8] while all penguin species live in the Southern Hemisphere.[9]
The bestselling business self-help book Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions by John Kotter and Holger Rathberger concerns a colony of emperor penguins struggle to organize a solution to the reality that their iceberg habitat is in danger of melting by the end of the season. The penguins in the story act human and have human names. The story is presented as a fable for demonstrating Kotter's Eight Steps Change model.
365 Penguins is a 2006 children's picture book by Jean-Luc Fromental and illustrated by Joelle Jolivet.
Penguin is a 2007 children's picture book written and illustrated by Polly Dunbar.
Penguin Highway is a juvenile science fiction novel written by Tomihiko Morimi and published in 2010. The novel was adapted into an animated film by Studio Colorido in 2018. Penguins are portrayed as a system that repairs three-dimensional holes in the universe.
Film and television
Feature films and animation
In the major animated sequence of the 1964 film, Mary Poppins, Mary and Bert are served by a group of overeager penguin waiters. Afterwards, Bert has an extended dance sequence with them, soon lowering his trousers to imitate their stubby legs.
In the movie Gregory's Girl, there is a background running gag involving a child in a penguin costume wandering around the school and being directed from place to place.
The 2004 science fiction movie Alien vs. Predator also features Humboldt penguins with one of them startling Graeme Miller.
The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper is an animated short produced by DreamWorks Animation. The 12-minute Madagascar spin-off features the adventures of four penguins, sometimes known as the Madagascar penguins, who live in the Central Park Zoo and are trained as spies.[13]
The 2014 film Penguins of Madagascar features four anthropomorphised penguins as central characters.[14]
Mr. Popper's Penguins is a 2011 American comedy family film directed by Mark Waters, and starring Jim Carrey.[15]
Pingu is a television show revolving around a penguin community.
Ice King from Adventure Time has a group of penguins, all named variations of "Gunter" and who quack like ducks. One of them, in particular, is particularly mischievous.
In the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, the character Misato Katsuragi has a genetically engineered penguin named Pen-pen as a pet.
In the season 2 episode "Pawnee Zoo" of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, Leslie Knope marries two male penguins becoming an accidental same-sex marriage advocate. The penguins move to Ohio where their lifestyle choices are more accepted.
The BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! character Tomori Takamatsu has a special interest in penguins.[17] In December 2024, a newborn king penguin from Xpark, an aquarium in Taiwan, was officially named "Tomorin" after an online name voting event.[18]
Theatre
In the 2015 musical, Love Birds the penguins (played by humans) "Parker", "Presley", "Pewcey" and "Puck" comprise a penguin barbershop quartet.[19]
Chill Penguin is a character in the Mega Man X series, he is a robot based on a penguin and one of the eight boss characters in the first game of the series.
A feature of a new podcast series hosted by two former Ireland national rugby union team players Andrew Trimble & Barry Murphy (rugby union) , named Penguins & Potholes.[20] A penguin can be described as a bit of a super fan who will walk up to or engage with an idol either in the street or online, much to the annoyance of the idol.
Other
Scientists who had reported 2020 possible signs of life in the clouds of the planet Venus stated that the found biosignaturephosphine is found on Earth and among others produced by penguins. Subsequently some public news reports and public responses wrongly cited the scientists' interest in the processes that create phosphine, suggesting that penguins lived in the clouds of Venus.[21]The Planetary Society picked up on the misunderstanding for entertainment purposes.[22]
↑ Gandolfini, James; Chianese, Dominic (20 May 2001). "Army of One". The Sopranos. Season 3. Episode 13. Event occurs at 46:40. HBO. TONY: Sad day. JUNIOR: Mhm. Kid was always a dumb fuck though, wasn't he? Didn't he almost drown in three inches of water? TONY: (nodding) ...the penguin exhibit.
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