Everything you ever wanted to know about Gentoo Penguins

Gentoo Penguins

Gentoo penguins can grow to around 90cm high, and are the third largest of the 17 species of penguin, after the Emperor Penguin and King Penguin.
Gentoos are easily recognised by the wide white stripe across the top of its head and long stiff tail feathers.
They are more romantic than other penguins, and mostly stay with the same mate from the previous year.
Gentoos are fond of chewing on human hair.
Gentoos have two types of feathers, a soft downy woollen layer to keep them warm, and a waterproof layer of feathers over the top to keep them dry.
Gentoo Penguins live in Antartica, one of the coldest places on earth. Antartica is in the south, rather than the Artic in the north where Polar Bears live.
Gentoo’s mainly live on rocky coastlines so they are known for their jumping.
Penguin poo is called guano.
Gentoos are nest builders, and they build their nests out of moss, twigs and pebbles.
A group of penguins is called a colony.
Gentoos are very sociable animals and social structure is very important to them.
Gentoos are more fun-loving and charismatic than some species other of penguin.
Gentoos always lay two eggs, which will be incubated for a month.
When Gentoo babies are born, they will triple in size from 100g to 300g within one week!
Gentoo’s mainly live on rocky coastlines so they are known for their jumping.
Gentoos are the fastest underwater swimming penguins, they can reach speeds of up to 36kph and dive to 170metres.
Gentoos are a very active species of penguin, renowned for running on rocks and cliffs – they even run out people sometimes!
They have a very distinctive cry, often likened to a donkey bray. The noise they make is so loud it can reach over 80 decibels - the equivalent of a diesel train travelling at 45mph!
SEA LIFE London Aquarium's colony are the only Gentoo Penguins in England.