Why did penguins not evolve in the Arctic?

Answer 1

Because... what is now the Penguin we know, evolved rapidly during the changes that made Antarctica what it is in the present day. Environment and climate, also food sources may bring about seemingly rapid evolutional changes in some species. For instance, what we know as the Polar Bear was (approx. 10,000-20,000 years ago) previously similar to brown or grizzly bears, but acclimation to colder environment and the need to change habits to acquire food, caused genetic changes as well.

Genetic change occurs when a series of events require change in order that the animal survive, if the triggers for change do not occur within the structure of DNA to enable genes to mutate, then extinction is the result.

If we believe the paleogeological evidence of rivers and hills beneath the snow and ice of Antarctica, then we can see that drastic Earth climate changes occurred in the past as they are beginning to occur now. Take another step and it follows that a seabird might have evolved into a Penguin over a period of several hundred, or a thousand years. Since it did not appear in the Arctic area, we may assume that it was native only to the Antarctic.

Take another step... and understand that we humans too may need to evolve to flourish in our changing environment.

Answer 2

Penguins did not evolve in the Arctic because they are adapted to life in colder waters, where they can hunt for fish and other prey. The Arctic ecosystem is dominated by different species that have evolved to thrive in that environment, so penguins would not have been able to outcompete them. Penguins are mostly found in the Southern Hemisphere where they have adapted to the cold waters surrounding Antarctica.