Natural Selection is the process by which species evolve and change over a long period of time. In various forms, penguins have been around for a very long time. They have evolved through natural selection to be able to survive the sub-zero climate by penguins born with enough blubber to survive having offspring which also have enought blubber to insulate them and keep them warm. If a penguin did not have the right traits to survuve the cold, it could not have offspring with those traits. Penguins have evolved and changed since then, from a common ancestor of flying birds about 40 million years ago to their modern state of flightless swimming birds living in the Antarctic region.
Penguins can actually be considered dinosaurs, because they descend from a group of advanced dinosaurs known as the Coelurosaurs, found in the Jurassic period. Most of the birds known to us do indeed fly, or at least have the capability of flying. Only a few have evolved to be confined to the earth, such as rheas, kiwis, and emus. The only remaining marine "dinosaur" is the penguin, part of the hesperornithiforms. In fact, the most distant relatives of penguins was so adapted for life in the water that it could neither walk nor fly.
One of the main causes for mass extinction is change in climate. The climate of Antarctica has changed over time due to its global position, but penguins have stayed in southern regions, where it has been cold. Therefore the penguin has not had as much reason for evolution as an animal in a more variable climate. If, for some reason, AntarcticaÍs climate were to warm up, many penguins could probably adapt to the change, by evolving to have less blubber, or going in the water more often. This is why I do not think penguins are doomed to extinction.
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