Puffin Trivia Questions

Puffins have a unique jaw structure that lets them hold up to 30 small fish crosswise in their beaks while hunting for their single chick.

Three puffin species exist: Atlantic, horned, and tufted. The Atlantic puffin is the only one found in the North Atlantic; the others live in the Pacific.

Puffin beaks develop bright orange, yellow, and blue-gray markings in spring to attract mates, then shed the colorful outer layer after breeding.

Puffins can fly, though they need to run across water to take off. They are not related to penguins; penguins are flightless and live in the Southern Hemisphere.

Puffins dig burrows in soft soil or use rocky crevices for nesting, not open cliff ledges. Burrows protect their single egg and chick from predators.

Only the colorful outer sheath of the beak is shed after breeding; the beak itself remains intact and regrows the sheath the next spring.

Puffin chicks, called pufflings, typically fledge under cover of darkness to reduce the risk of being caught by gulls or other predators.

Atlantic puffins spend winter at sea in the North Atlantic, staying north of the equator. They do not cross into southern oceans or Antarctica.