Explore the measurements
Compare individual penguins from three species. The table is sorted by body mass. Hover over a row to follow it across the columns. Click a record button for a summary, or a labeled measurement header for a tip.
Selection: the first six records with all four body measurements present for each species, in the source file's order. Record numbers count data rows, excluding the CSV header. All 18 selected records are from 2007.
| Record | Species | Island | Bill depth (mm) | Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gentoo | Biscoe | 50 | 16.3 | 230 | 5700 | 2007 | |
| Gentoo | Biscoe | 50 | 15.2 | 218 | 5700 | 2007 | |
| Gentoo | Biscoe | 47.6 | 14.5 | 215 | 5400 | 2007 | |
| Gentoo | Biscoe | 46.5 | 13.5 | 210 | 4550 | 2007 | |
| Gentoo | Biscoe | 46.1 | 13.2 | 211 | 4500 | 2007 | |
| Gentoo | Biscoe | 48.7 | 14.1 | 210 | 4450 | 2007 | |
| Chinstrap | Dream | 45.2 | 17.8 | 198 | 3950 | 2007 | |
| Chinstrap | Dream | 50 | 19.5 | 196 | 3900 | 2007 | |
| Adelie | Torgersen | 39.5 | 17.4 | 186 | 3800 | 2007 | |
| Adelie | Torgersen | 39.1 | 18.7 | 181 | 3750 | 2007 | |
| Chinstrap | Dream | 52.7 | 19.8 | 197 | 3725 | 2007 | |
| Adelie | Torgersen | 39.3 | 20.6 | 190 | 3650 | 2007 | |
| Chinstrap | Dream | 51.3 | 19.2 | 193 | 3650 | 2007 | |
| Adelie | Torgersen | 38.9 | 17.8 | 181 | 3625 | 2007 | |
| Chinstrap | Dream | 45.4 | 18.7 | 188 | 3525 | 2007 | |
| Chinstrap | Dream | 46.5 | 17.9 | 192 | 3500 | 2007 | |
| Adelie | Torgersen | 36.7 | 19.3 | 193 | 3450 | 2007 | |
| Adelie | Torgersen | 40.3 | 18 | 195 | 3250 | 2007 |
Walkthrough 1: compare two groups
First, compare the Gentoo rows with the Adelie rows. Look down the mass column, then move left to flipper length. In this small selection, the mean mass is 5050.0 g for Gentoo and 3587.5 g for Adelie, a difference of 1462.5 g.
The mean flipper lengths are 215.7 mm and 187.7 mm. The Gentoo records are heavier and have longer flippers in this selection. This is a description of these rows, not a conclusion about all penguins.
Walkthrough 2: a heavier penguin can have a shorter bill
Compare Chinstrap row 281 and Gentoo row 154. Start with mass: 3725 g compared with 5700 g. Now compare bill length: 52.7 mm compared with 50.0 mm. The heavier record has the shorter bill.
That is why selecting the biggest value in one column is not enough to describe an animal. A useful comparison checks more than one measurement, then looks at other records to see whether the pattern repeats.
Glossary
Hover over a term, focus it with Tab, or tap it to see its meaning.
- Species
- The kind of penguin recorded: Adelie, Chinstrap, or Gentoo.
- Bill length
- The measured length of the penguin's bill, in millimeters.
- Bill depth
- The measured depth of the bill, in millimeters.
- Flipper length
- The measured length of a flipper, in millimeters.
- Body mass
- The measured mass of the penguin, in grams. One thousand grams is one kilogram.
- Sample
- A selected part of a larger dataset. These 18 rows are not a random sample.