For the first time in over 100 years, scientists say they’ve identified a new species of penguin. This newly described species is Pygoscelis kerguelensis, the southeastern gentoo penguin. A new research paper from an international team of biologists details the species and how it differs from the three other gentoo penguin subspecies.
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The southeastern gentoo penguin lives in the the Kerguelen Islands (aka the “Desolation Islands”), an overseas French territory in the southern Indian Ocean—closer to Antarctica than to Europe. Scientists say that on a genetic level, these birds differ significantly from the three other subspecies (northern gentoo penguins of South America, southern gentoo penguins surrounding Antarctica, and eastern gentoo penguins on sub-Antarctic islands).
Read the paper that describes this new species here.
Header stock image by Edith Polverini/Getty Images
