Penguins don't have feathers nor do they fly, so what makes them be a bird?
2007-09-10 09:16:25 · 18 answers · asked by music 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
They are birds, they lay eggs, they have feathers and anthropology has determined they are part of the bird family, along with ostrich`s and kiwi`s.....
2007-09-10 09:20:09 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
To start with, Penguins do have feathers. The are not the long, flashy feathers of some birds, but they are feathers nonetheless.
Penguins have an outer covering of feathers, are endothermic (warm-blooded), have front limbs modified as wings, and lay eggs. This is what puts them in the scientific Class Aves (which covers all birds). (see source 3 below)
Flight has nothing to do with whether or not you are a bird. Ostrichs, kiwis, rheas, and emus are all flightless, not to mention about 40 other species currently in existence. Several extinct species, such as the dodo, were also flightless.
New Zealand has more species of flightless birds (including some species of penguin)than any other counrty.
2007-09-10 09:30:19 · answer #2 · answered by Matthew Stewart 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
They absolutely have feathers, they also lay eggs, they have beaks, they have featherless legs and they have wings although those wings have been modified to 'fly' under water rather than through the air and it breathes air through it's lungs. It has hollow bones and has a gizzard and a crop which are all unique to the birds. There is actually very little that has changed in the peguin to move it away from being a bird other than the modification of it's wings.
2007-09-10 09:26:20 · answer #3 · answered by SC 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Penguins DO have feathers, and that is what makes them a bird. Feathers are the defining characteristics of a bird -- if an animal has them, it's a bird; if it doesn't have them, it isn't a bird.
2007-09-10 09:25:24 · answer #4 · answered by dansinger61 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
penguins are like birds they have short feathers,but they are small and they can not fly but they can swim very faster.
2007-09-10 12:32:24 · answer #5 · answered by Gloria C 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
neither did the dodo~and several other birds
they do however have beaks and lay eggs and are warm blooded so are classified as birds and their feathers are adapted to life in the antartic
2007-09-10 09:23:38 · answer #6 · answered by ~*tigger*~ ** 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
several factors. Firstly skeletal structure, secondly, they DO have feathers, thridly Beaks, and laying eggs helps but isnt a decider.
2007-09-10 09:56:17 · answer #7 · answered by the mofo 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Well you dont have feathers and fly..but how do I know if you're an earth bound cuckoo.
2007-09-13 06:57:22 · answer #8 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
p p p p p pick up a penguin and you ll see an egg
2007-09-10 09:25:18 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Its because it has feathers and wings, not because it lays eggs.
A Duck Billed Platypus has a "bill" and lays eggs but it is a mammal.
2007-09-10 11:26:12 · answer #10 · answered by laurasimonuk 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋