This word is pronounced: s-fen-ish-i-forms.
In honor of World Penguin Day, this week’s word is the scientific Order that penguins belong to! In Linnean classification (how we classify all organisms today), there are 8 levels of classification that get more and more specific as they go along in the following order from broadest to most specific:
- Domain
- Kingdom
- Phylum
- Class
- Order
- Family
- Genus
- Species
The Sphenisciformes order only has one family, six genera, and 18 species within it. All species of penguins exist in this order as they are all flightless, aquatic birds. Like this King penguin colony shown below!
Image Credit and List of all Penguin Species: Bird Life International
