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Gentoo Penguins, Antarctica, 2006

Poised to plunge belly-first into the ocean, a colony of gentoo penguins lines up for a dip. Thanks to their sleek bodies and strong paddle-like flippers, gentoos are the world's fastest underwater swimming birds, reaching speeds of up to 22 miles an hour (36 kilometers an hour).

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Deadly Beauty," November 2006, National Geographic magazine)

Photograph by Paul Nicklen