Penguins in fiction tend to be given attributes of ducks, because most people are more familiar with ducks than they are with penguins. Since penguins are both waterbirds and fairly unfamiliar to either writers or audiences, work creators tend to substitute in attributes from better-known, more familiar animals.

Fictional penguins may have soft, rounded beaks like a duck's bill, when real penguins have sharp beaks like most birds. Fictional penguins might