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by Doyler - you have got to be kidding me! on March 15th, 2010

Doyler - you have got to be kidding me!

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Why do penguins waddle?

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Answers. 10 helpful answers below.

  • by Marky Mark on March 15th, 2010

    Marky Mark

    You would too if your feet were attached directly to your torso. ;-) No legs? Very short legs?

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  • by LePoupon is a proper gander. on March 15th, 2010

    LePoupon is a proper gander.

    Penguin sex can be very vigorous.

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  • by Millenium - The Mysterious M. . . GONE! on March 15th, 2010

    Millenium - The Mysterious M. . . GONE!

    Tough to have a "stride" when you have no "legs"; but then. . . . . . .I've seen some OBESE people "waddle", too!

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  • by Bohemian is back on March 15th, 2010

    Bohemian is back

    You'd waddle if you had a body weight 100 times more than your legs.

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  • by SarahLaak on March 15th, 2010

    SarahLaak

    well...
    when my feet get too cold, i tend to waddle like a Penguin...
    so maybe their feetsies are cold?

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  • by iwnit on March 16th, 2010

    iwnit

    1) "The birds' stiff-legged gait is an adaptation to their frigid environment, says Peter Carey, expedition leader on the Discovery. "They have long legs, but the leg is enclosed inside the body cavity so they don't have all that area exposed to the elements and using heat."
    Source and further information:
    http://www.sacbee.com/2006/04/07/11181/why-do-penguins-waddle-how-cold.html


    2) "In order to study the biomechanics of penguin walking, graduate student Timothy M. Griffin of the University of California at Berkeley and Rodger Kram of the University of Colorado coaxed emperor penguins at San Diego Sea World to waddle across a force platform. This enabled the researchers to measure side-to-side and back-and-forth forces, as well as the vertical forces supporting the animal's weight. "Our hunch was that if penguins are trying to move forward, but expend energy rocking side to side with this awkward, roly-poly, back-and-forth movement, then it's got to be wasted energy," Kram recalls. "But what we found is that they are inefficient because of their short legs and big feet, and waddling is a means to cut their losses."

    In fact, with regard to the percentage of energy retained during one stride--a measure known as the recovery rate--penguins scored surprisingly well: whereas the human recovery rate, for example, is about 65 percent, that for emperor penguins is up to 80 percent--among the highest of any terrestrial animal. Without that side-to-side motion, the team determined, penguins would be less efficient. "The penguin's rocking motion helps raise their center of mass," Griffin explains. "Without it, their muscles would have to make up that work." Still, penguins wouldn't have to waddle if they didn't have such diminutive legs in the first place. But these proportions facilitate diving and swimming. They may also reduce heat loss, which would help the penguins to incubate their eggs during the bitterly cold Antarctic winter. Apparently, he observes, penguins have made an evolutionary tradeoff."
    Source and further information:
    http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-penguins-waddle

    Further information:
    There's a Method to the Penguin's Waddle
    Why Do Penguins Waddle, You Ask?

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  • by Bookishly on March 15th, 2010

    Bookishly

    The way they are designed. Possibly, must be some logic, perhaps it is written in a book somewhere.

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  • by P4ganiZonda on March 15th, 2010

    P4ganiZonda

    For the same reason you walk.

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  • by WABOO on March 15th, 2010

    WABOO

    they were designed that way by the creator

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  • by Anonymous on March 15th, 2010

    Anonymous

    No knees.

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