Macaroni penguins get their name from their flamboyant yellow head plumes, which reminded sailors who encountered them of the exuberant styles worn by the 18th-century English dandies known mockingly as “macaronis”. The color is generated by a recently discovered pigment named spheniscin, which is found only in penguins. This specimen is one of two salvaged Macaroni penguins mounted for the exhibition Penguins! Past and Present.
