Friday, July 9, 2010

FAQ: Do penguins have knees?

Looking at a penguin standing or waddling around on the island it may look like they have very short legs and no knees.



But yes, penguins do have knees!

A penguin’s leg is composed of a short femur, knee, tibia and fibula. The upper leg bones are not visible as they are covered in feathers giving penguins a very short legged appearance. Here you can compare the leg of a penguin skeleton to a model of a human skeleton.





Take at look at these x-rays of one of our penguins and you can see the leg bones, including the knee joint and how most of it is covered in the penguin’s body.


Head-on x-ray of penguin, the knees are in green rectangles


Side-view of penguin knees in yellow rectangle

So now you know!

- Andrea

61 comments:

  1. But do those knees work? I mean, can the bend or is the body in the way? do they serve a function?

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    1. look in the second X-ray, the knees are bent at different angles

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    2. I believe the knees would be used a great deal for swimming.

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  2. Perhaps their ancestors lived in a warmer climate. They may have also been much thinner. So hypothetically if their ancestors were in a warmer climate and were thinner those legs could have been used for standing in shallow waters to hunt for food.

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    1. People have found penguin fossils that showed that they where at least 6 feet tall

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    2. Maybe then they'd even be able to fly.....

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    3. ....I don't know if this is a joke or not....Hoping it's a joke...

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    4. I...I just....I give up on people. How can we not be talKING ABOUT THE FACT THAT THERE WERE 6 FOOT PENGUINS WITH LEGS AND KNEES?!?!?!!?

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    5. Wow!!! That is so cool. ������

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    6. They DO fly...underwater. Same movements, different substrate!

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  3. I used this to prove my brother wrong, thanks!

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    1. my brother used this to prove me wrong...

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    2. My gf proved me wrong -.-

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  4. I am wondering how penguins get up from a prone position? If they fall down, for example, do they use their flippers to push themselves up?

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  5. how do penguins use there knees

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  6. My gypsy friend asked me this and I didn't have an answer. This was interesting! Thanks!

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  7. Thanks for the x-rays and the standing skeleton. It appears that penguins' legs are more structurally similar to ours than any other avian. The bones are quite thin, but penguins have no need for the more robust femurs, tibias and fibulas; or hip, knee, and ankle joints as we. They make their living in the oceans, standing to enhance their vigil against predators while roosting (warming their eggs) on land. Also, going bipedal-upright allows them to "walk" up the slope of the beach with great dignity as they emerge from the surf. Go Penguins!

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    1. perhaps having such a lengthy coverage of feathers over their knees is beneficial in incubating their eggs. It seems it would offer insulation and protection in a harsh environment, and I believe parents share in the responsibility of incubation.

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  8. Now I can sleep, praise the LORD, THANKYOU

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    1. exactly why i'm here. Now we can all rest!

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  9. Awesome! Someone just posted that question on my facebook so I had to do a search. :-)

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  10. This was frequently asked?

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    1. Once someone brings up the subject of penguin knees you can't sleep unless you've found the answer!

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  11. I saw this question on the IOS app IFunny, so I just had to look it up.

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  12. Thank you for answering this. And for the cute penguin pictures here.

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  13. Did anyone else get here from the wheezy waiter video?

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  14. they have to be able to bend so they can squat down and protect their eggs.

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  15. Yesss I can sleep noow halli lu yeur

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  16. LoL! + Does anyone know if pigeons have any knees at all ???, I obviously would not be able to sleep if I do not find out LoL!, btw thanks if you do manage finding the answer + Good Luck! You Might Need It. Also, may I say a really Big Thank You, to whoever found This Information.

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    1. Yes, but because of the way the pigeon's legs are built they're up near and under the feathers. What lots of folks (including one answerer here) believe are the "knees" going "backwards" are actually the birds "heels". The easiest way to visualize it is to stand on your tiptoes. When you do that (which is what all birds do), then your heel is now pointed "backwards"; pretend that you knee is now up in your feathers nearer your torso and you have what a pigeon does. So, yes, they do have "knees".

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  17. Yes, pigeons do have knees

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  18. THANKS! Now the fourth voice in my head stops bugging me about it and wants to go to sleep too, like the other three. :)

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  19. clearly this is a common concern among insomniacs everywhere... now I must sleep.

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  20. Where is everyone from? amazing how we all so concerned about this and we from different parts of the globe

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  21. i love me some penguins

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  22. my whole class has been asking me this for a month "do penguins have knees?" now I can say 4 sure they do

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  23. Making my day at uni so much better! Useless facts are always more interesting than the ones we need to know :D

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  24. My sister and i laughed over again and when someone talked about them we burst out laughing.

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  25. Well now I know i can finally sleep easy i have thought about this for some time but never googled it till now

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    Replies
    1. same here, its weird what you think about when you are trying to relax and go to sleep.

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  26. PENGUIN KNEES ARE TERRIFYING

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  27. Two penguins are on an ice floe. One says to the other, "You look like you're wearing a tuxedo."

    To which the other replies, "Who's to say I'm not?"

    Kudos to "Prairie Companion" and Garrison K.

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  28. OMG I just love penguins so much I could eat them all up

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  29. I used this to calm my class down when all they could think of was whether or not penguins have knees. You should have seen their faces!

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  30. I always thought penguins had little stubs for legs, with no joints. I couldn't sleep, so i looked it up, and i saw the legs to be jointed and long. Wow. That is mind blowing.

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  31. Thank goodness , that's the end of that then lol

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  32. hi thanks for the information my school teacher told me that they don't have lol

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  33. Lol! I used this for my speech topic and everyone was suprised

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  34. Wait...before everybody goes to sleep: I always hear about the "Bees Knees." Do bees have knees???

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