Penguins are supposed to be Antarctic Birds wandering around on ice flows. How can there be penguins at the Galapagos on the equator? The answer is the frigid Humbolt Current flowing up from the Antarctic keeping the climate more moderate than tropical. The Galapagos Penguin is a unique species. Like its other penguin relatives it is flightless. Its numbers vary greatly with dramatic decreases after El Nino years.