information:classification, structural:expansion
In popular culture

Penguins are widely considered endearing for their unusually upright, waddling gait, swimming ability and (compared to other birds) lack of fear of humans. Their black-and-white plumage is often likened to a white tie suit. Some writers and artists have penguins based at the North Pole, but there are no wild penguins in the Arctic. The cartoon series Chilly Willy helped perpetuate this myth, as the title penguin would interact with Arctic or sub-Arctic species, such as polar bears and walruses.

Penguins have been the subject of many books and films, such as Happy Feet, Surf's Up and Penguins of Madagascar, all CGI films; March of the Penguins, a documentary based on the migration process of the emperor penguin; and Farce of the Penguins, a parody of the documentary. Mr. Popper's Penguins is a children's book written by Richard and Florence Atwater; it was named a Newbery Honor Book in 1939. Penguins have also appeared in a number of cartoons and television dramas, including Pingu, co-created by Otmar Gutmann and Erika Brueggemann in 1990 and covering more than 100 short episodes. At the end of 2009, Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade "best-of" list, saying, "Whether they were walking (March of the Penguins), dancing (Happy Feet), or hanging ten (Surf's Up), these oddly adorable birds took flight at the box office all decade long."

A video game called Pengo was released by Sega in 1982. Set in Antarctica, the player controls a penguin character who must navigate mazes of ice cubes. The player is rewarded with cut-scenes of animated penguins marching, dancing, saluting and playing peekaboo. Several remakes and enhanced editions have followed, most recently in 2012. Penguins are also sometimes depicted in music.

In 1941, DC Comics introduced the avian-themed character of the Penguin as a supervillain adversary of the superhero Batman (Detective Comics #58). He became one of the most enduring enemies in Batman's rogues gallery. In the 60s Batman TV series, as played by Burgess Meredith, he was one of the most popular characters, and in Tim Burton 's reimagining of the story, the character played by Danny Devito in the 1992 film Batman Returns, employed an actual army of penguins (mostly African penguins and king penguins).

Several pro, minor, college and high school sport teams in the United States have named themselves after the species, including the Pittsburgh Penguins team in the National Hockey League and the Youngstown State Penguins in college athletics.

Penguins featured regularly in the cartoons of U.K. cartoonist Steve Bell in his strip in The Guardian newspaper, particularly during and following the Falklands War. Opus the Penguin, from the cartoons of Berkeley Breathed, is also described as hailing from the Falklands. Opus was a comical, "existentialist" penguin character in the cartoons Bloom County, Outland and Opus. He was also the star in the animated Christmas TV special A Wish for Wings That Work.

In the mid-2000s, penguins became one of the most publicized species of animals that form lasting homosexual couples. A children's book, And Tango Makes Three, was written about one such penguin family in the New York Zoo.