[dyauspitr]

Interesting fantasy but these broken penguins are too infrequent to start something new. They usually just wander off to die alone in the cold.

New species are usually formed gradually while introducing their mutations to the population until they eventually break off as a group. But more commonly there’s usually a geographic barrier that separates an existing group and they gradually just drift apart from each other.

[ceejayoz]

> They usually just wander off to die alone in the cold.

Usually! But not always.

Every once in a while, one probably makes it to another colony many miles away, and helps prevent inbreeding as a result.

Or runs into a similar weirdo somewhere in between.

[lux-lux-lux]

Penguins live in large colonies and, as a result, generally do not have issues with inbreeding.

[ceejayoz]

https://www.penguinsinternational.org/turns-out-that-not-all...

> The researchers found that the differences between species could be determined by the habitat where a species was found. For example, Emperor penguins occupy the Antarctic continent, breeding mostly on sea ice. Even though they have colonies clustered by geographic regions, the researchers found that juveniles of Emperor Penguins can travel long distances between colonies facilitating “gene flow.”

[Towaway69]

This leaving the group to die can also be observed in other species (cats and dogs do this too).

So this penguin knew its time was up and didn’t want to mess up the colony with its dead body.

We interpret the behaviour through our lenses and experiences.