{"id":683910,"date":"2026-05-20T22:35:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T22:35:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/683910\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T22:35:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T22:35:16","slug":"new-research-finds-gentoo-penguins-are-four-distinct-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/683910\/","title":{"rendered":"New research finds gentoo penguins are four distinct species"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten years ago, as Dr Jane Younger started analysing data for her PhD, something struck her as odd.<\/p>\n

In front of her were the DNA results for five different species of penguin found across Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.<\/p>\n

The genetic data for emperor, king, chinstrap, and Adelie penguins were as expected, with no major variations, even for populations located thousands of kilometres apart.<\/p>\n

But it was a different story for gentoo penguins.<\/p>\n

“Gentoos just had so much difference in their genomes between these different islands that it was orders of magnitude more different than what you would see in another species,” Dr Younger said.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Gentoo penguins can be distinguished by their bright red-orange bills and conspicuous white eye patches. (Supplied: Barend Becker)<\/p>\n

The results got her thinking.<\/p>\n

Could gentoo penguins from different regions be not just one standalone species, but multiple species that all look very similar?<\/p>\n

Fast forward a decade, and Dr Younger has now co-authored a paper in Nature’s Communications Biology journal that suggests that is indeed the case<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“The main finding is gentoo penguins are not one species \u2014 they’re actually four,” the vertebrate ecologist from the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at UTAS said.<\/p>\n

\"Penguins<\/p>\n

The research paper found gentoo penguins from four distinct areas are all actually their own individual species. (Supplied: Ignacio Juarez Martinez)<\/p>\n

‘It just felt so obvious’<\/p>\n

But proving the hypothesis has taken years of work, as well as lots of travel.<\/p>\n

After her initial DNA study in 2016, Dr Younger turned her attention in 2020 to penguin collections held in international museums.<\/p>\n

“I went to France and the UK and the United States and measured all the gentoo specimens that I could get my hands on to try to see if they were actually physically different from each other,” she said.<\/p>\n

“And it turned out that they were.”\"A<\/p>\n

Dr Jane Younger, pictured with an Ad\u00e9lie penguin, has travelled around the world to prove her hypothesis. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Two years later, she led an expedition to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and the Antarctic Peninsula, where her team caught gentoos to collect blood samples.<\/p>\n

“In the Falklands \u2026 [they are] just so much bigger,” she said.<\/p>\n

“And then when we got onto the peninsula, they’re so much smaller, they’re easier to handle.<\/p>\n

“It just felt so obvious that they’re different species, but you would need to have that comparison of having them in your hands to be able to tell.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The study puts forward a range of evidence including whole-genome data, morphology, ecological modelling and evolutionary analyses. (Supplied: Barend Becker)<\/p>\n

The new study puts forward the case for four unique species:<\/p>\n

The southern gentoo on the Antarctic Peninsula and South GeorgiaThe northern gentoo located in parts of South America and the Falkland IslandsThe eastern gentoo on Macquarie Island, as well as Crozet and Marion IslandsThe southeastern gentoo on Kerguelen Island<\/p>\n

The study, which was peer reviewed, used a combination of evidence, including whole-genome data, morphology, ecological modelling and evolutionary analyses.<\/p>\n

But it still has another hurdle to pass.<\/p>\n

“Having something considered a new species is a lengthy process,” Dr Younger said.<\/p>\n

“So, it now goes to taxonomic committees who will review this and see if they think that the claim is valid.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Taxonomic committees will need to review the findings before the new species’ are confirmed. (Supplied: Eric Woehler)<\/p>\n

Conservation push for at-risk penguins<\/p>\n

Dr Young said recognition of gentoo penguins as four distinct species could have significant conservation benefits because each type is faring differently.<\/p>\n

On the Antarctic peninsula, which has been subject of rapid climate warming, the southern gentoo is doing very well.<\/p>\n

“What used to be full of ice is now like [an] ice-free habitat that’s actually suitable for gentoos to nest,” she said.<\/p>\n

“As we’ve lost ice through there, we’re seeing gentoos spreading further south every year and new colonies of this species popping up and the numbers growing.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

If they were listed as different species, some of the gentoo penguins could be listed as endangered. (Supplied: Brett Free)<\/p>\n

But on the Falkland Islands, the northern gentoo has been decimated by the arrival of bird flu.<\/p>\n

Bird flu fears in Antarctica<\/a><\/p>\n

Scientists are racing to get crucial population data on penguins and other seabirds before the deadly H5 strain of bird flu impacts the Australian Antarctic Territory.<\/p>\n

And on Macquarie Island, Dr Younger said the eastern gentoo population had dropped by about 50 per cent over the past 20 years.<\/p>\n

“And we don’t actually know why that’s happened, but they definitely are not doing well in the same way that they are on the Antarctic Peninsula.”<\/p>\n

Gentoos are currently categorised as being of “least concern” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.<\/p>\n

But Dr Younger said some of the gentoos that are faring poorly could be considered “endangered” if they were recognised as distinct species.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Researchers say the discovery could lead to better conservation management plans for the species. (Supplied: Jane Younger)<\/p>\n

She said recognition could lead to better conservation management plans for those most at risk.<\/p>\n

“I feel like it’s easy to think that taxonomy is just like an academic thing that’s just about assigning names to stuff, and who cares [about that]” she said.<\/p>\n

“But it matters because if something is a different species, then we evaluate the risk to that differently than if it’s considered just a population of the same species.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ten years ago, as Dr Jane Younger started analysing data for her PhD, something struck her as odd.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[329649,329651,64,63,329648,1043,29942,304711,314889,329647,329650,29940,17537,7821,128,2465,8539,338],"class_list":["post-683910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-adelie-penguins","tag-antarctic-penguins","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-chinstrap-penguins","tag-discovery","tag-fairy-penguins","tag-falkland-islands","tag-flightless-birds","tag-gentoo","tag-gentoo-penguins","tag-little-penguins","tag-penguin","tag-penguins","tag-science","tag-species","tag-tas","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}