Reason found why penguins don’t fly

SCOTS university experts believe they have worked out why penguins don’t fly – they don’t have the energy.

Aberdeen University was part of a global team which studied a biomechanical theory – that a wing which is good for flying cannot be as good for diving or swimming. This is because a wing designed for optimal diving performance is unlikely to be efficient for flying.

Experts found penguins’ wings have evolved to become more adapted to swimming and diving while the energy needed to use their wings to fly has become greater. The findings emerged after studies of guillemots, which closely resemble penguins in their diving and swimming behaviour but are still able to fly.

Scientists studied how much energy guillemots – on Coats Island, northern Canada – used during flight and when diving.

Their findings, published today, showed guillemots used substantially less energy than most other birds when diving. But the energy they needed for flight was the highest ever reported for a flying bird – some 31 times greater than the energy they expended when at rest.

Scientists believe their findings explain why penguins can’t fly.

Kyle Elliott, of the University of Manitoba in Canada and first author on the paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, said: “The bottom line is that good flippers don’t fly very well.”