Talk:Penguin

Fossil/Prehistoric Penguins?

Should there be a separate article for fossil penguins? I don't think there needs to be, but it could happen. Speaking of which, it should be noted under "Poorly Understood Taxa" if the fossils were only found in one location, a single bone or skeleton, etc. The "Notes" section only has the alternate names for the penguins. 64.124.38.140 (talk) 13:34, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Additional note: This should be noted under "Fossil genera" and not only "Poorly Understood taxa" 64.124.38.140 (talk) 13:37, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Possible proposed split

Would it be at all possible to split the "Fossil genera" section from the rest of the article? Specific types of prehistoric penguins have their own separate articles, and it would make sense to tie them back into a separate article. The biggest problem of making a separate article would be that both articles would become considerably short. You could fix this by having some information the same on both articles. 64.124.38.140 (talk) 14:45, 9 May 2024 (UTC)

Lead image

Should penguins be represented by one image or a collage in the lead?

Penguins are not complicated folks. This image is a high quality picture of a black-and-white bipedal bird in a polar/marine background. That is a good enough representation of penguins for the lead. Not every group needs a collage. We've got the rest of the article to show their diversity. I personally think there should be a wider discussion on when collages are needed. They tend to make it harder to focus on one image. LittleJerry (talk) 01:42, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

I would also like to point out that in all but one of the images in the collage, the picture cuts off at the chest or torso. We don't even get a good look at the form of the penguin. The emperor in particular looks terribly cropped. LittleJerry (talk) 02:32, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

I'm not sure a Chinstrap is the best penguin to use. I think most people think of Emperor or King Penguins first. Otherwise, I do support replacing the current image. Ships & Space_(Edits) 10:03, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

Giving my two cents, I Support the collage being included in the lead. One high quality image won't fully represent the difference in the group, especially appearance. The featured picture you support as the replacement isn't well known by non-biologists. Showing group colleges doesn't imply that all penguins in said group look like that. WILD MOUSE what? 02:12, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

"isn't well known by non-biologist" I don't understand. LittleJerry (talk) 02:27, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

I believe they're referring to the "John Q citizen" you mentioned. - FlightTime (open channel) 04:42, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

i meant what exactly isn't known to a non-biologist. LittleJerry (talk) 05:00, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

I would suggest that you would be surprised at how few people would immediately recognize that the animal in the picture you provide is a penguin at all, and I think this is also what was meant by WildMouse above. Obligatory xkcd. I do not especially have an opinion one way or the other whether a collage or single image is used, but this should not be the sole lead image in my opinion. Tollens (talk) 05:19, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

what makes it difficult to tell it's a penguin? LittleJerry (talk) 05:38, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

I should perhaps clarify that I was brought here by the feedback request service and know practically nothing about birds of any sort. When I think of a penguin, I think almost exclusively of the kinds of images that come up if you do a google image search for "penguin". Looking at the differences I can see between the penguin in your suggested image and the ones I more easily recognize, the neck shape (or perhaps just the pose) is probably the biggest thing that would throw me off. Tollens (talk) 06:01, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

Support collage in lead. waddie96 ★ (talk) 11:44, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

• Support Collage to show diversity, though it would be okay to just have four images instead of six. Reywas92^Talk 13:34, 11 June 2024 (UTC)