For many years, I had no idea that there was a difference between a penguin and a puffin. I learned to love penguins in movies like Happy Feet and Mr. Popper’s Penguins. Not to mention the mischievous Penguins of Madagascar. Don’t worry, you can still trust this article! I’ve since become very interested in both seabirds and I’m committed to guiding you through the differences between the penguin and the puffin.
Overview: Penguin vs. Puffin
You may think that they’re birds of a feather, or two sides of the same coin if you must. Instead, they don’t even belong to the same family. Yep, not even close relatives. Penguins belong to the family Spheniscidae, while puffins belong to the family Alcidae.
There are 18 different penguin species, including the well-known Emperor penguins. However, there are only 4 species of puffins.
Physical Appearance
Penguins: What’s more to a penguin than the black and white tuxedo? As a matter of fact, black and white theatre attire isn’t the only outfit they can sport. Different species come with different patterns. And their little wings can be used as flippers in the water, so they have the best of both worlds. Just kidding, penguins can’t fly!
Puffins: They’ve got stocky little bodies with very bright orange beaks and even brighter feet. There’s a reason why we call them the parrots of the sea.
Size
Penguins: They can be more than 40 times the weight of puffins. So yes, penguins are the bigger birds. Big penguin species rarely weigh less than 80 lbs. In terms of length, they can be anything from 10 inches to 4 feet tall.
Puffins: Like I said, puffins don’t weigh nearly as much as penguins. They rarely pass the 2 lbs. mark and it’s safe to say that their maximum height is a mere 10 to 15 inches.
Behavior
Penguins: They’re definitely known for their unique sounds. African penguins bray just like donkeys, King penguins trumpet like elephants, and Humboldt penguins honk like geese.
They use these vocalizations to communicate with their friends and families because penguins are very social. They form big colonies when it’s breeding season, but they typically hang out in groups.
Puffins: They’re not nearly as vocal or as loud as penguins. You won’t find a puffin honking or trumpeting soon and if you do it may be time for a call to National Geographic. However, they do grunt like pigs and growl like dogs during breeding season.
Puffins are also relatively social, but their groups aren’t nearly as big and we call them circuses and puffinries – not colonies.
Habitat
Penguins: These little guys live on land anywhere near water in the Southern Hemisphere. You’ll find them in regions like South America, South Africa, and Antarctica.
Puffins: They live in burrows, on the open ocean, and sea cliffs in the North Atlantic and North Pacific regions of the Northern Hemisphere. More than half of the world’s Atlantic puffins live in Iceland.
Diet
Penguins: Fish, small marine organisms, squid, and crustaceans. That’s what you’ll see a penguin eat on a regular day out at sea. They can dive up to 1.9 feet deep and stay down there for 22 minutes at a time. Remember those cute little wingy flippers I mentioned earlier? They use those to propel themselves down and swim around to catch their prey.
Unfortunately, they’re also considered prey, especially if you ask hungry killer whales, sharks, and sea lions.
Puffins: Puffins aren’t nearly as picky as penguins. Or maybe they’re even pickier. It depends on how you look at it. They eat marine invertebrates, most types of small fish, and zooplankton. They aren’t as great at diving as penguins, and they can only spend around 20 to 30 seconds underwater. But they can catch as many as 62 small fish in those 30 seconds! That’s because their beaks are pretty large, and they’ve got small spikes on the roofs of their mouths.
Just like penguins, puffins are rather tasty to sharks and orcas. Fortunately, they don’t have to worry about sea lions as much, but they do need to duck when they see gulls.
Conservation Status
Penguins: Unfortunately, penguins are one of the most endangered bird species in the world. At least 11 of the 18 penguin species are endangered according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Puffins: They’re not as endangered as penguins because of their Northern habitat choices and the fact that there are fewer puffin species. However, their numbers are still declining as you read this sentence.
Both bird species face threats like overfishing, climate change, plastic pollution, and hunting.
Other Differences
Swimming: Puffins spend most of their life out on sea, but it’s penguins that can go deeper and stay under the water for longer. They also swim much faster.
Flying: Penguins are obviously flightless birds despite having little winglike things on the sides of their bodies. We now know that these things are actually flippers, and they use them for swimming, not flying. They’re too heavy to fly because they have solid bones, which also helps them be less buoyant. Puffins on the other hand have hollow little bodies and they can reach up to 50 miles per hour in the sky.
Breeding season: It’s simple. Penguins breed in the winter months and puffins only mate in the summer. They each lay 1 to 2 eggs per year and both parents step up to the task. They do what they can to protect the egg during incubation and the entire process takes place on land.
Diving: The penguin is the reigning diving champ. They can dive deeper and stay down there for longer periods. Puffins prefer to stay as shallow as possible, and they only hunt for fish that swim close by.
Similarities
Threats: Sadly, neither penguins nor puffins are safe from everyday threats. Humans are responsible for at least half of these threats, which include by-catch, overfishing, and all types of pollution. They’re also at risk due to climate change and predators. Let’s not forget that while the ice is melting in Antarctica, penguins are struggling to get to their breeding spots and prey. This is making life very, very difficult for them.
Land behavior: I’m sure you’ve done the silly little penguin waddle at least once in your life – or at least seen somebody attempt it. It turns out that both penguins and puffins are awkward on land.
Nesting: Penguins make good mothers. Emperor penguins travel up to 50 miles from their babies to find food. They also stay with their mate for life, which makes them as monogamous as it gets in the animal kingdom. Puffins keep the same partner, but they only meet up once every year for breeding time.
