Penguin and Puffin are both well-known seabirds and somewhat similar to each other. They have physical differences.
Penguin vs Puffin
The difference between Penguin and Puffin is that Penguin does not have abilities to fly, but Puffin can fly. The scientific name of Penguin is Speheniscidae, but The scientific name for Puffin is Fratercula. Penguins are heavy than Puffin. They are found in different locations as per their habitat.
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Penguins are flightless birds. They are available in 18 types of species. They belong to the Spheniscidae family of the animal kingdom.
Puffins share their family with other species of birds, such as auklets and murres. They belong to the Alcidae family of the animal kingdom.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Penguin | Puffin |
|---|---|---|
| Family | Spheniscidae | Alcidae |
| Species | Eighteen | Four |
| Fly | No | Yes |
| Weight | Heavy | Less than Penguin |
| Known as | Spheniscidae | Fratercula |
| Found | Antarctica, South America | Northern Atlantic |
What is Penguin?
Penguins are birds that are also aquatic birds. They cannot fly, due to which they are flightless birds. They are generally found in the Sothern Hemisphere.
They are available in temperate zones and sometimes near the equator. Few species can survive in the southern hemisphere.
The penguins, which are large and heavy, are mostly found in the southern hemisphere because they can live in extreme conditions in the southern hemisphere.
The word can be related to the Latin word Pinguis. The word means oil or fat. The word is used differently in all other languages.
What is Puffin?
Puffin is a bird who has a genus from Fratercula. They are always found in big colonies. They are mostly seen in offshore islands.
They have an amazing ability to swim with their wings. They can fly underwater. They belong to the kingdom of Animalia.
The French zoologist Mathurin Brisson introduced the genus Fratercula. Atlantic puffin was somehow similar to the genus.
Beaks have an excellent hiding mechanism that helps them to store food while traveling. They store food to feed the small puffins who cannot store so much food.
Main Differences Between Penguin and Puffin
- Penguins have heavier bodies than Puffin.
- Penguin is found in Antarctica, South America, but Puffin is found in the northern Atlantic.
- https://www.nature.com/articles/35075554
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4687(200005)244:2%3C109::AID-JMOR2%3E3.0.CO;2-0
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Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page.
