About Penguin Place

Most people can name two, maybe three penguin species. Emperor, obviously. Little Blue if they've been to New Zealand. Possibly Rockhopper because of the hair. But there are 18 species — and the other 15 are just as fascinating, just as threatened, and almost completely ignored by the internet.

That's why Penguin Place exists.

What you'll find here

Every one of the 18 recognized penguin species gets a full profile — not a paragraph scraped from Wikipedia, but real detail. Where they live, what they eat, how big they get, how long they live, what threatens them, and the specific things that make each species genuinely weird and worth knowing about. Did you know Chinstrap penguins sleep in thousands of four-second micro-naps? Or that Erect-crested penguins lay two eggs but almost always lose the first one, for reasons scientists still don't fully understand?

Beyond the profiles, you can compare any two species side by side, browse facts by category, and — soon — play games built around the penguins themselves. We're working on an endless runner where you slide across Antarctic ice as your species of choice, each with its own abilities based on real biology. Gentoo is the fastest. Little Blue has the smallest hitbox. Emperor can take a hit.

Why it matters

In 2024, African penguins were uplisted to Critically Endangered. Their population has dropped by 97% since the early 1900s. At current rates, they could be gone from the wild within a decade. The Galápagos penguin — the only species that lives north of the equator — has around 1,200 individuals left. The Northern Rockhopper has lost roughly 90% of its population since the 1950s.

We're not a conservation organisation and we don't fundraise. But we do think that people protect what they know and love, and right now most people don't know these species exist. If Penguin Place makes someone care about the Fiordland penguin or the Snares penguin — birds that almost nobody has heard of — that feels worth doing.

The site is a work in progress

Penguin Place is being actively built. Species profiles are live and growing. Games are in development. More content — migration maps, deeper conservation timelines, species-by-species photography — is coming. If something is missing or wrong, we want to know.

For now, start with the species. Pick one you've never heard of. We promise it'll be worth it.