Penguins

They wear little tuxedos and waddle around on land. What could be cuter?

There are 18 species of Penguin, all of which spend the majority of their time underwater, can’t fly to save their lives, and call the Southern Hemisphere home. And did we mention the tuxedos-esque coat of feathers? Those feathers are very densely packed, and insulate the chubby little animals from the freezing temperatures. The iconic penguin is the Emperor, which grows to over 40” tall and can weigh upwards of 75 lbs. In contrast, the Little Blue or Fairy Penguin barely tops 15” and weighs just north of 2lbs.

Penguins are best seen when they gather to breed. Breeding colonies can have hundreds of thousands of individuals squawking and scurrying around, trying to find their mate or baby. Since penguins don’t have any terrestrial predators, especially in antarctica, they don’t have much fear of humans. As a result, they may waddle up quite close to you, making sure that your experience with them in the wild is a memorable one.