Most northerly penguin species

The most northerly species of penguin is the Galápagos penguin Spheniscus mendiculus, native to the Galápagos Islands situated off Ecuador in South America. The vast majority of individuals inhabit the islands of Fernandina and Isabela, and because the northern tip of Isabela crosses the equator, jutting into the northern hemisphere at approximately 0.16°N, it means that this species is the only penguin that occurs naturally in the northern hemisphere as well as in the southern. All other living species are confined entirely to the southern hemisphere.

The reason why this penguin species can exist in such a warm location is that the Cromwell Current brings up cool waters here from great depths in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, and the Humboldt or Peru Current also brings cool temperatures here while it flows north along South America's Pacific coast.

There are typically just a handful of Galápagos penguin nests located above the equator.