Debunking the myth that penguins are monogomous

Catalyst: Penguin Man - ABC TV Science: "Narration:
Penguins mate for life. Well don’t they?

Not according to this man. Meet author and renowned penguin researcher, Lloyd Spencer Davis.

After 20 years studying penguins, he’s come to realise they’re dealing with many of the same relationship issues we are.

Lloyd Spencer Davis:
People always say that’ that penguins mate for life. Total bollocks.

They’re just as likely to be unfaithful, they’re just as likely to go and have a quickie, they’re just as likely to shift house and leave the kids.

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So why is being a penguin so tough on relationships?

Lloyd says it all began when the penguin made an ancient evolutionary decision.

Jonica Newby, Reporter:
“Oh look, there’s one”

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This is story about a bird who wanted to be a fish.

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We’re on the Otago peninsula in New Zealand, and Lloyd is taking me to see how the story started.

We’re looking for the penguins ancestors - who surprisingly, probably looked a lot like this.

Jonica Newby, Reporter:
They’re huge.

Lloyd Spencer Davis:
They are. This is the royal albatross. The largest flying bird in the world, absolutely amazing. And yet It’s the penguins closest relative.

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50 million years ago, the albatross-like ancestor of the penguin could see the oceans were teeming with untapped fish.

The trouble was, they couldn’t dive deeper than a few metres.

Lloyd Spencer Davis:
And that must have been so frustrating for them - their ancestors anyway, when they were looking down at all this food but they couldn't reach it, because they couldn't dive down there.

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If only they could dive deeper and stay down longer.

But that’s when they faced their first big obstacle.

You can lead a bird to water but you can’t make it sink

Jonica Newby, Reporter:
Wow, look at this.

Lloyd Spencer Davis:
Yeah it's incredible isn't it. This is an albatross skeleton. And if you are going to tak"