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Penguins (order Sphenisciformes, family Spheniscidae) are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have evolved into flippers. Most penguins feed on krill, fish, squid and other forms of sealife caught while swimming underwater. They spend about half of their lives on land and half in the oceans. Although all penguin species are native to the Southern Hemisphere, they are not found only in cold climates, such as Antarctica. In fact, only a few species of penguin live so far south. Several species are found in the temperate zone, and one species, the Galápagos penguin, lives near the equator. The largest living species is the emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri''): on average adults are about tall and weigh or more. The smallest penguin species is the little blue penguin (''Eudyptula minor''), also known as the fairy penguin, which stands around tall and weighs . Among extant penguins, larger penguins inhabit colder regions, while smaller penguins are generally found in temperate or even tropical climates (''see also'' Bergmann's rule). Some prehistoric species attained enormous sizes, becoming as tall or as heavy as an adult human. These were not restricted to Antarctic regions; on the contrary, subantarctic regions harboured high diversity, and at least one giant penguin occurred in a region not quite 2,000 km south of the equator 35 mya, in a climate decidedly warmer than today. ==Etymology== The word ''penguin'' first appears in the 16th century as a synonym for great auk.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=PINGOUIN : Etymologie de PINGOUIN )〕 When European explorers discovered what are today known as penguins in the Southern Hemisphere, they noticed their similar appearance to the great auk of the Northern Hemisphere, and named them after this bird, although they are not closely related.〔 The etymology of the word ''penguin'' is still debated. The English word is not apparently of French,〔 Breton or Spanish〔(pingüino ). Diccionario de la lengua española. rae.es〕 origin (the latter two are attributed to the French word ''pingouin'' "auk"), but first appears in English or Dutch.〔 Some dictionaries suggest a derivation from Welsh ''pen'', "head" and ''gwyn'', "white", including the Oxford English Dictionary, the American Heritage Dictionary,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=penguin )〕 the Century Dictionary〔 and Merriam-Webster, on the basis that the name was originally applied to the great auk, either because it was found on White Head Island (Welsh ''Pen Gwyn'') in Newfoundland, or because it had white circles around its eyes (though the head was black). However, the Welsh word ''pen'' is also used to mean "front", "foremost part" or "extremity" and therefore "white front" is far more likely to be the sense in which Welsh sailors used the term when referring to the bird. Indeed, the Welsh expression for "bow" or "prow" of a ship is "pen blaen" (front point/tip).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Pen - Definition )〕 An alternative etymology links the word to Latin ''pinguis'', which means "fat". In Dutch, the alternative word for penguin is "fat-goose" (''vetgans'' see: Dutch wiki or dictionaries under Pinguïn), and would indicate this bird received its name from its appearance. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「penguin」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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