The illustration is an important tool to aid in the description and understanding of anatomy, and penguins (Aves: Sphenisciformes: Spheniscidae) are an important clade in environmental monitoring, paleontology, and other research fields. Traditionally, anatomic illustration has been informed by dissection. More recently, micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) has proven to be a powerful tool for three-dimensional anatomic imaging, although larger specimens are more challenging to image due to increased X-ray attenuation. Here, we used traditional dissection and micro-CT to illustrate the skulls of Aptenodytes patagonicus, Eudyptula minor, and Pygoscelis papua, and the extracranial soft tissue of E. minor. Micro-CT prevented the loss of orientation, disarticulation, and distortion of bones that might result from cleaning and drying skulls, while immobilization was achieved by freezing the specimens before imaging. All bony elements in the head were accurately depicted. Fixing, dehydrating, and diffusion staining with iodine (diceCT) enabled the identification of muscles and other large nonmineralized structures, but specimen preparation precluded the ability to show smaller nerves and vessels. The results presented here provide a guide for anatomic studies of penguins and our summary of sample preparation and imaging techniques are applicable for studies of other similarly sized biological specimens. K E Y W O R D S avian orbit, bird head, bird skull, jaw muscles, penguin 1 | INTRODUCTION Penguins (Aves: Sphenisciformes: Spheniscidae) are an important clade in multiple research disciplines including, for example, animal physiology, coastal ecosystem health, and paleontology. Extant species of Spheniscidae have been the subject of particular anatomic attention, being the extant representatives of an ancient lineage with a fossil record as old as the early Paleocene and distinct from other birds for the entirety of the Cenozoic (Jadwiszczak, 2009; Ksepka & Ando, 2011;Slack et al., 2006;Triche, 2007). Although other avian lineages share some of the features of Spheniscidae, including a long history of flightlessness (e.g., ratites such as the emu, Dromaius novaehollandiae) and diving ability (e.g., the common murre common guillemot, Uria aalge, Piatt & Nettleship, 1985), penguins are the only

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We describe the ocular features and normal physiological parameters of the South Island takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri), using three birds. Both eyes face slightly forward such that there is some anatomic possibility of binocular vision but with restriction particularly of the superior and posterior visual fields. The pupil is round under both dim room light and very high illumination and the centre of the pupil is displaced <= 0.5 mm nasally with regard to the corneal centre. The iris is light brown and has several areas of more prominent vascularity. Their refractive error in the distance by retinoscopy is between 0 and +1 dioptre, although they sometimes accommodate down to-1 dioptre during examination. The average intraocular pressure is 6.75 +/-0.88 mmHg using an iCare tonometer and the average corneal thickness is 340 +/-32 mm. The average corneal curvature is 73.63 +/-0.82 dioptres. On B scan the eye appears flattened in its antero-posterior axis; the axial length is 13.67 +/-0.61 mm, the width 16.36 +/-0.30 mm. The distance from the posterior pole of the lens to the retina is 7.37 +/-0.26 mm. The pecten is visible inferiorly but no os opticus can be identified.

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