14 DAY TRIAL // A study published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences answers one very serious question that has troubled hundreds of people for decades on end: why is it that penguins cannot fly?
By the looks of it, the answer is pretty straightforward: penguins cannot fly because they can swim.
As the scientists explain, it all comes down to an evolutionary trade-off. Thus, in order to become the extraordinary swimmers that they are, penguins needed to ditch their flying abilities and adapt to aquatic environments.
Since wings designed for flying are not all that efficient when used to swim, the penguins got rid of them and evolved to have wings that are perfect for swimming and diving.
“As penguins evolved, their wings became more and more adapted to swimming and diving in the oceans where they catch their food - making this part of their lives very energy efficient.”
“However, at the same time the energy required for flying became greater and greater for the penguin. At some point, it simply became impossible to sustain the very high energy costs of flight, and the birds became flightless,” specialist John Speakman reportedly said.
Penguins are believed to have become flightless birds roughly 65 million years ago.