Now I’m getting task-tsking e-mails from people telling me the sexual mores of penguins aren’t really perfect because of this rather ridiculous New York Times story. For the record, I know penguins don’t stay together for life, which is why I have referred to their “serial monogamy” in past posts here. But anyway here are some e-mails from people very eager to let me know that penguins can be real swingers (now that you mention it–why do Aptenodytes penguins have high divorce rates?):

–Subject: Penguins and monagamy
“Penguins are an ideal example of monagamy.”
Really? The species covered in “March of the Penguins” change mates every year. It is certainly surprising to see a conservative support that lifestyle. In addition, penguins, in addition to most other animals, exhibit homosexual activity.
I’m really glad to see that conservatives are finally loosening up. Thanks for your support!
– Mr. Lowry,
Today’s New York Times quotes you as follows:
“Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review, told the young conservatives’ gathering last month: “You have to check out ‘March of the Penguins.’ It is an amazing movie. And I have to say, penguins are the really ideal example of monogamy. These things – the dedication of these birds is just amazing.”
While I greatly enjoyed this film, as a zoologist who has studied avian mating systems, it’s a good idea to be cautious about looking to animals as embodiments of traits we may wish humans would express more consistently or uniformly. I wasn’t able to find any references for peer-reviewed studies of emperor penguins’ possible deviations from monogamy, but as you can see from the appended list of studies I was able to find (from the Biological Abstracts database, part of the ISI Web of Knowledge system), regarding other penguin species, extra-pair mating and “divorce” are not uncommon. That March of the Penguins did not focus on them does not ensure that such behavior is not practiced, to some degree, by emperor penguins.
TI Extrapair paternity in the Adelie Penguin Pygoscelis adeliae
AU Pilastro, Andrea Pezzo, Francesco Olmastroni, Silvia Callegarin, Claudia Corsolini, Simonetta Focardi, Silvano
SO Ibis
PD October, 2001
VL 143
IS 4
PS 681-684…
TI Mate switching and copulation behaviour in King Penguins
AU Olsson, Olof Bonnedahl, Jonas Anker-Nilssen, P SO Journal of Avian Biology
PD June, 2001
VL 32
IS 2
PS 139-145….
TI Absence of extra-pair fertilisations in the Chinstrap Penguin Pygoscelis antarctica
AU Moreno, J. Boto, L. Fargallo, J. A. de Leon, A. Potti, J.
SO Journal of Avian Biology
PD December, 2000
VL 31
IS 4
PS 580-583…
TI Genetic monogamy mirrors social monogamy in the Fiordland crested penguin
AU McLean, Ian G. Kayes, Stephanie D. Murie, Jan O. Davis, Lloyd S. Lambert, David M.
SO New Zealand Journal of Zoology
PD December, 2000
VL 27
IS 4
PS 311-316…
TI Why do Aptenodytes penguins have high divorce rates?
AU Bried, Joel Jiguet, Frederic Jouventin, Pierre
SO Auk
PD April, 1999
VL 116
IS 2
PS 504-512…
TI Divorce in king penguins: Asynchrony, expensive fat storing and ideal free mate choice
AU Olsson, Olof
SO Oikos
PD Dec., 1998
VL 83
IS 3
PS 574-581…