PENGUIN SOUND AND CALLS | Penguin Sounds - Noises

During mating season, male African penguins produce a loud, distinctive song similar to a donkey’s bray, giving them their nickname “jackass penguins.” #NatGeoExplorer David Reby hypothesizes longer vocalizations are meant to show off stronger respiratory capacity, reflecting superior diving and foraging ability, to attract mates. His team recorded and analyzed male penguins’ songs and dives to test their theory and illuminate the iconic call of this endangered species. The National Geographic S

Captured on camera for the first time ever, hundreds of six-month-old emperor penguin chicks were filmed taking a leap of faith off of a 50-foot cliff in Antarctica. A penguin chick’s first jump into the water is typically only a foot or two, but in this rare case, the group ended up alongside a cliff's edge. Likely motivated to hunt the fresh fish, krill and squid in the water, the fledglings marched from the frozen land in West Antarctica to the surrounding Weddell Sea. One baby penguin took a