What is a penguin thinking?
Ridiculous on land and entirely aware of it. Waits for the water to make its case.
Everything about a penguin is built for swimming. The legs sit far back on the body, which is efficient underwater and hopeless for walking - a gentoo does around 35 km/h in the water and waddles at barely 2 on land.
The waddle is not even wasteful. Studies of penguin gait found the side-to-side rocking recovers energy with each step, and that walking any other way with those legs would cost more.
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