Gentoo Penguin

The application of gentoo to the penguin is unclear. Gentoo was an Anglo-Indian term to distinguish Hindus from Muslims. The English ter

m may have originated from the Portuguese gentil. Some speculate that the white patch on the bird's head was thought to resemble a turban

.It may also be a variation of another name for this bird, Johnny penguin, Johnny being Juanito in Spanish and sounds vaguely like gento

o.The Johnny rook, a predator, is likely named after the Johnny penguin.The specific name papua is a misnomer in the original

description, Johann Reinhold Forster, a naturalist who had circumnavigated the world with Captain James Cook, mistakenly assumed that

the species occurred in Papua New Guinea, the closest gentoos actually being over 6000 km to the south on Macquarie Island.There are n

o penguins in New Guinea, however.Others trace the error to a possibly fraudulent claim in 1776 by French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat, w

ho also alleged a Papuan location for the king penguin despite never having been to the island himself.

The gentoo penguin is one of three species in the genus Pygoscelis. Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA evidence suggests the genus split from

other penguins around 38 million years ago, about 2 million years after the ancestors of the genus Aptenodytes. In turn, the Adelie pe

nguins split off from the other members of the genus around 19 million years ago, and the chinstrap and gentoo finally diverged around

14 million years ago.In the sea, leopard seals, sea lions, and killer whales are all predators of the gentoo. On land, no predators of f

ull-grown healthy gentoo penguins exist. Skuas and giant petrels regularly kill many chicks and steal eggs Petrels will kill injured a

nd sick adult gentoos. Various other seabirds, such as the kelp gull and snowy sheathbill, will also snatch chicks and eggs. Skuas on

King George Island have been observed attacking and injuring adult gentoo penguins in apparent territorial disputes

Gentoos reach a height of 51 to 90 cm 20 to 35 in,making them the third-largest species of penguin after the emperor penguin and the

king penguin. Males have a maximum weight of about 8.5 kg 19 lb just before molting, and a minimum weight of about 4.9 kg 11 lb just

before mating. For females, the maximum weight is 8.2 kg 18 l just before molting, but their weight drops to as little as 4.5 kg 9.9 lb

when guarding the chicks in the nest Birds from the north are on average 700 g .5 lb heavier and 10 cm 3.9 in taller than the southern

birds. Southern gentoo penguins reach 75–80 cm 30–31 inin length.They are the fastest underwater swimmers of all penguins, reach

ing speeds of up to 36 km/h 22 mph.Gentoos are well adapted to extremely cold and harsh climates.