Saturday 7 September 2013

Penguins Two

It seems that penguins are the theme for me today. Some penguins, like the Adelie penguins, mate for life while others, like the Emperor penguins, are serially monogamous. For some penguins, the Humboldts for example, there is a degree of same sex activity, even though there may be sufficient partners of the opposite sex to choose from.

The following video clip shows Adelie, Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins in Antarctica. Some sections have been speeded up.

The second video is an information animation designed for children but we can all learn from it;-)

There are many collective nouns for penguins: colony, creche, formality, huddle, parade, parcel, rookery and waddle. If I had to make up a collective noun I'd choose 'a perfection of penguins.' What would you choose?

I've just read the following in a recent copy of our Community magazine.
Do you ever wonder why there are no dead penguins to be seen in Antarctica? If a penguin is found dead, members of the colony dig a hole in the ice, using beaks and wings. When the hole is deep enough the dead penguin is rolled into it and buried. Then the penguins gather round in a circle and sing, 'Freeze a jolly good fellow, freeze a jolly good fellow . . . '

Don't believe everything you read . . . ;-)

11 comments:

  1. Cute video and a great post! Thanks for sharing. Have a great day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Freeze a jolly good fellow"....what a hoot.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I laughed out loud at Freeze a jolly good fellow. Enjoyed your post.

    ReplyDelete
  4. and then you went and spoilt it!

    I was just admiring the community spirit of the penguins.

    Did you the Attenborough series on penguins on TV? Brilliant.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sheesh! I almost believed it for a while.

    ReplyDelete
  6. you almost had me until "freeze"!
    I like the 'perfection of penguins'
    I discovered a childrens cartoon called Pingu many years ago and still like to watch it - but only the original version where he speaks in gibberish. it proves I will watch anything with a penguin in it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I had to come back to see the videos. What is it about penguins that are just so darn cute?

    ReplyDelete
  8. "A perfection of penguins" would be perfect.
    I love penguins, although the only ones I've ever seen outside of zoos were in the Galapagos Islands, and I understand their food supply is threatened by changes in the ocean current.
    Sigh.
    The collective noun with which I'm most familiar is "colony" which isn't as much fun as "a waddle of penguins" or even a "waddle".
    I was opposed to long-distance travel because of my health, but my husband lured me to the Galapagos by saying "they have penguins" and we've been traveling ever since. I love them.
    K

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oops, meant to say "or even a huddle"!
    K

    ReplyDelete
  10. "freeze a jolly good fellow", I laughed at that.
    I can well imagine the digging and burying though, wonder if they really do bury their dead?

    ReplyDelete



Thank you for visiting. I love to read your comments and really appreciate you taking the time to respond to posts.

I will always try to repay your visit whenever possible.