# Penugins at The NORTH pole?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penugins-at-the-north-pole/8036
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [September 18, 1999, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penugins-at-the-north-pole/8036 "1999-09-18T12:36:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [September 18, 1999, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penugins-at-the-north-pole/8036/1 "1999-09-18T12:36:00Z")
Ok we all know they are a south pole type of bird. But do you think someone could establish a colony of them at the north pole?
Or are there just to many preditors up there?
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### Author:  [@Byzantine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Byzantine)
#### Post date: [September 18, 1999, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penugins-at-the-north-pole/8036/2 "1999-09-18T12:45:00Z")
Okay, I just KNOW I’m gonna regret this but why on earth do you want to know?
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [September 18, 1999, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penugins-at-the-north-pole/8036/3 "1999-09-18T13:38:00Z")
I like me some penugins 🙂
Sounds like some kind of exotic fruit from down Tennessee way.
Anyhoo - there’s no land mass in the North Pole. Unless you count Alaska or Siberia or something. Greenland maybe.
I dunno. This just seems kind of an unanswerable topic.
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### Author:  [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)
#### Post date: [September 18, 1999, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penugins-at-the-north-pole/8036/4 "1999-09-18T14:27:00Z")
Why not scoot this over to GQ and get some REAL wild-assed guesses?
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [September 18, 1999, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penugins-at-the-north-pole/8036/5 "1999-09-18T14:46:00Z")
In case you didn’t know, there are several penguin species that live in temperate climates as well. A better question would be why don’t penguins live in northern California or Oregon?
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [September 18, 1999, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penugins-at-the-north-pole/8036/6 "1999-09-18T15:51:00Z")
Well now that somebody mentioned Tenessee…Any of you remember Teneesee Tuxedo, the cartoon, well the only reason he was in the zoo was that he was that his best friend Chumly (sp) was a SOUTH POLE walrus. And Chumly wouldn’t go without Tennessee.
But alas I digress. I was just wondering. I know from when I was little we had penguins in Christchurch, NZ and I know they live up by the equator. I was also reading that the reason they don’t go further north is that once they hit warm waters they turn around.
But as all of you know I wonder about a lot of things…
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### Author:  [@Akatsukami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akatsukami)
#### Post date: [September 18, 1999, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penugins-at-the-north-pole/8036/7 "1999-09-18T18:06:00Z")
Markxxx asks:
> [@](#):
>
> But do you think someone could establish a colony of them at the north pole?
Probably. In fact, given that they would be an introduced species with no natural enemies, they’d likely spread like starlings exploding out of Central Park.
Of course, this would place a considerable environmental burden on puffins and auks – which essentially _are_ arctic penguins (compare their appearance, feeding habits, etc.).
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“Kings die, and leave their crowns to their sons. Shmuel HaKatan took all the treasures in the world, and went away.”