Trump shares AI image of penguins welcoming him to Greenland – an island that has no penguins

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Por Brendan Rascius — – World RSS Feed

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Trump shares AI image of penguins welcoming him to Greenland – an island that has no penguins

The nearest wild population of penguins lives some 4,900 miles away from Greenland, in the Galapagos Islands

Brendan Rascius in New York Monday 05 October 2026 20:42 BST

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Did Trump really obtain 'permanent control' over Greenland?
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President Donald Trump has posted an AI-generated image depicting a penguin colony welcoming him to Greenland, an Arctic island of polar bears, glaciers and fraught geopolitics – but no penguins.

Trump shared the image on Truth Social among more than two dozen posts that the president made Sunday.

It shows a Trump likeness standing before a snow-capped mountain as penguins in red, white and blue sweaters gather in front of him, holding American flags. “GREENLAND” appears in large letters above the scene.

One problem with the fantasy is that Greenland, and the Arctic more broadly, has no native penguin species. The flightless seabirds live almost entirely in the Southern Hemisphere, from Antarctica and southern South America to southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

The Galápagos penguin is the sole wild penguin found north of the Equator – roughly 4,900 miles from Greenland.

The image shows Trump standing before a snow-capped mountain as penguins in red, white and blue sweaters gather in front of him, holding American flags open image in gallery
The image shows Trump standing before a snow-capped mountain as penguins in red, white and blue sweaters gather in front of him, holding American flags ( @RealDonaldTrump, Truth Social )

The president’s penguin post was the latest in a recent string of social media messages focused on Greenland, the semiautonomous Danish territory that Trump has long sought to bring under U.S. control.

Earlier Sunday, he posted an AI-generated image of himself peering over the island’s mountains with the caption, “Hello, Greenland!”

On September 27, he shared another image showing his face looming over a globe centered on Greenland. Its caption read: “His Hemisphere.”

The barrage of posts followed a late-September security agreement among the United States, Denmark and Greenland that clears the way for an expanded U.S. military presence on the island while preserving the region’s status within the Kingdom of Denmark.

Trump claimed in a Truth Social post that the agreement “gives the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many U.S. concerns.”

Penguins live almost entirely in the Southern Hemisphere. Pictured: Gentoo penguins at the Paradise Bay in the Gerlache Strait - which separates the Palmer Archipelago from the Antarctic Peninsula, in January 2024 open image in gallery
Penguins live almost entirely in the Southern Hemisphere. Pictured: Gentoo penguins at the Paradise Bay in the Gerlache Strait – which separates the Palmer Archipelago from the Antarctic Peninsula, in January 2024 ( AFP via Getty Images )

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the agreement “strengthens our common security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic area” while “at the same time recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the right of the Greenlandic people to self-determination.”

Since returning to office, Trump has repeatedly voiced interest in bringing Greenland under U.S. control and has at times suggested he could use military force to do so, prompting sharp condemnation from Greenlandic and European officials.

Multiple polls have found that few Americans — and even fewer Greenlanders — favor U.S. control of the island, which is home to about 56,000 people.

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