# Would penguins thrive in the Artic?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-penguins-thrive-in-the-artic/27246
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 28, 2000, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-penguins-thrive-in-the-artic/27246 "2000-07-28T18:04:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tdonald](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdonald)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2000, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-penguins-thrive-in-the-artic/27246/1 "2000-07-28T18:04:12Z")
Penguins and sea-leopards (whatever they are) live only at the South Pole. Polar bears live only at the North Pole. (and by that I mean the general Arctic/Antarctic areas). Could penguins thrive in the Arctic? Has anyone ever tried to bring them there (where they would compete with puffins,
etc.)? Other than a 12,000 mile voyage, what’s stopping them from inhabiting both polar areas? Would this be a bad idea, introducing new lifeforms into a new environment (like zebra mussels, kudzu and starlings)?
Thanks!
TD
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic.” Arthur C. Clarke
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### Author:  [@Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2000, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-penguins-thrive-in-the-artic/27246/2 "2000-07-28T18:12:25Z")
I’m sure a polar bear would LOVE to have penguins introduced to the Artic. Then the bear could introduce the penguin to his intestines.
What’s the main source of a penguin’s diet? Do the fish they eat in the Antarctic exist in the Arctic?. Also, isn’t weather in the Arctic a little less severe than Antarctica? Maybe that would be a factor.
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### Author:  [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2000, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-penguins-thrive-in-the-artic/27246/3 "2000-07-28T22:46:13Z")
Penguins are not exclusive to “The South Pole.” They can be found as far north as the equator, in the Galapagos Islands. The Humboldt/Peruvian Current brings very cold water into this region.
Penguins, as a species, would not likely survive a transplant experiment to the arctic regions. There are a lot of complex factors to a species’ ecological needs, many of which are hard to predict, and ever harder to control. Of course, some species take hold very rapidly. We consider them to be “exotics” or “non-native invasive species.” A good example is the nutria.
The key is to be able to fit into an ecological niche. This involves many things; for example, interspecific competition (including predation). If there is an empty niche that a species can take advantage of, then it will survive. If not, no survival. For penguins, the presence of arctic foxes might be a factor. They would eat the eggs. As mentioned earlier, diet factors might come into play. These are just a couple of guesses of the top of my head, but I’m sure you get my point.
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### Author:  [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2000, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-penguins-thrive-in-the-artic/27246/4 "2000-07-28T22:59:02Z")
I thought the Penguins were from Pittsburgh?
And there’s that Bugs Bunny cartoon with the world’s only Hoboken-born penguin.
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### Author:  [@Poirot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poirot)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2000, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-penguins-thrive-in-the-artic/27246/5 "2000-07-29T19:37:36Z")
Yes. You should bring up a brace on your next trip and start a new ecosystem on some uninhabited rock.
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### Author:  [@Poirot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poirot)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2000, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-penguins-thrive-in-the-artic/27246/6 "2000-07-29T19:39:17Z")
You realise, of course, that they are quite well adapted to different temperatures, and thrive at zoos worldwide.
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2000, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-penguins-thrive-in-the-artic/27246/7 "2000-07-29T20:37:01Z")
According to [Sea World](http://www.seaworld.org/Penguins/distribution.html), “All 17 species of penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere.”
The best online source for penguins is [The Penguin Page — A Journey to the Bottom of the World](http://home.capu.net/~kwelch/pp/)
Known species and their habitats are listed [here.](http://www.penguin.net.nz/faq/how_many.html)
[Here is why](http://www.penguin.net.nz/faq/faq.html#9) penguins might not survive in the Arctic.