By Emily Miller, Assistant Producer for Penguins: Meet the Family You might think the answer to ‘how many species of penguins are there’ would be simple… but its not. In fact, you may well have just stumbled into the most contentious issue in the world of penguin science. Southern rockhopper Traditionally the number of worldwide penguin species has been listed as 17. These include: the Snares penguin, Galápagos penguin, African penguin, Adélie penguin, Humboldt penguin, rockhopper penguin, emperor penguin, royal penguin, macaroni penguin, gentoo penguin, Fiordland penguin, chinstrap penguin, king penguin, little blue/fairy penguin, yellow eyed penguin, Magellanic penguin and the erect crested penguin.