Forget polar bears. This winter's "it" critter is unquestionably the penguin.

"Penguins have always been a popular animal, but they do seem to be taking the nation by storm these days," said Christina Slager, a self-proclaimed "penguinologist" and curator of the penguin exhibit at California's Monterey Bay Aquarium.

America's love affair with penguins stretches from Hollywood to publishing to the Internet. First came "March of the Penguins" in 2005, which won the Oscar for best documentary. And this month, "Happy Feet," an animated movie about a penguin who can't stop dancing, has been filling theaters. The film was No. 1 at the box office three weeks in a row and was nominated for a Golden Globe.

"I think it's because penguins are incredibly charismatic," Slager said. "There's also their funny-looking upright stance, their inquisitive nature, their quirky behaviors — all these make for one really intriguing bird."

Though she might be biased, the aquarium's Penguin Cam, a 24-hour, live Webcast broadcasting the antics of the park's 18 penguins, has also enjoyed a surge of viewers in recent months.

Average daily traffic to spy on the penguins before "Happy Feet" hit theaters was 2,000 hits. The week after the movie came out, daily hits doubled, according to Ken Peterson, the aquarium's spokesman.

The Web site is popular not only with teachers and their students, but adults as well.

"I watch the breakfast-feeding almost every day," said Kathy Davis of Dallas. "Sometimes my friends and I watch the breakfast-feeding together, via cell phone."

Of course, it's not the first time the tuxedoed bird has enjoyed the spotlight. Willie the Penguin peddled Kool cigarettes from the 1930s to the '60s, and a penguin-shaped cocktail shaker was the bar accessory to have in the '30s. Fast-forward to 1992, when Danny DeVito personified an evil penguin in "Batman Returns." Tux the Penguin became the Linux Web site mascot in 1996.

But lately penguins seem to be popping up all over the Internet. They're helping Flufacts.com spread the word on the dangers of influenza; Amazon.com recently added a single penguin to the top of its Web site. You can choose a penguin to be your icon when you send instant messages through America Online, while Yahoo's homepage features a penguin that skates around the Yahoo logo.

Even Dawn dish soap is in on it, using penguins in national television ads to demonstrate how the soap helps clean off the birds covered in oil slick.

"There's a lot going on with penguins recently," says Anna Burdick, a spokeswoman for Procter & Gamble, the Cincinnati-based company that makes Dawn. "After 'March of the Penguins' and 'Happy Feet,' penguins seem to be a hot animal right now."

She's not just blowing smoke. "We don't do anything without first doing extensive consumer research, and obviously our test audiences responded quite well to the penguin in our ad."

And then there's Miniclip.com's highly addictive "Club Penguin" game, an interactive time-killer that allows players to assume the identity of a cute little penguin and chat with others, hit the disco floor, decorate a penguin abode, ride bobsleds and throw snowballs at other penguins.

The game, launched in March, has become the site's most popular, according to Miniclip spokeswoman Jo McKenna. Though she couldn't provide exact numbers on how many have signed up to play, she did say it was in the millions.

"The popularity of penguins right now has definitely had an impact," on the game's popularity, she said.

And while some have penguin fever simply because the animal is so darn cute, author Sandra Boynton chose to use the flightless waterfowl as the center of her new children's book, "My Personal Penguin," because of its alliterative possibilities.

"I first wanted 'My Personal Piggie' because piggies are so cute," said the Litchfield County, Conn.-based children's author, who admits she hasn't seen "March of the Penguins" or "Happy Feet."

"But piggie didn't seem to have the same kind of universal appeal as penguin. Plus, I knew my book was going to come out during the holidays, so it was a pretty obvious choice. There is definitely a penguin zeitgeist right now, so I went with a penguin," she said.

And the fever's not about to end any time soon. Another animated penguin movie, "Surf's Up," featuring the voices of pro surfers Kelly Slater, Rob Machado and Sal Masekela, is set to be released next summer. It highlights behind-the-scenes antics in the fictitious world of competitive penguin surfing.

While Americans seem to be enamored of penguins, what do they think of us?

"I think they find us land apes quite interesting," Slager said. "Penguins find us very fun to play with, to poke at, bite and take our cleaning implements. We're their greatest ally."

Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood) in "Happy Feet" has boosted hits on Monterey Bay Aquarium's Penguin Cam.