Penguins have spent years fooling us. With their image seemingly
every where we turn—entertaining us in animated films, awing us in
documentaries, and winking at us in commercials—they have made most of us
believe they are doing just fine; the penguin's charming demeanor has lulled us
into complacency about their fate. But penguin populations are facing historic
declines even as their popularity in human society rises. Overfishing is
decimating some of their prey species, climate change is shifting their
resources and imperiling their habitat, meanwhile pollution, such as oil
spills, are putting even healthy colonies at risk. Now, a young organization,
the Global Penguin Society (GPS), is working to save all of the world's 18
penguin species by working with scientists, governments, and local communities.