Penguins again . . .

 

Penguins again . . .

                            African penguins (Spheniscus demersus)
                                        Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

This post is compiled from others I have written with additional facts gleaned at a later time.

There are about five million penguins in Antarctica. If I were to create a collective noun for penguins, I would choose ‘a perfection.’ The standard collectives are colony, crèche, formality, huddle, parade, parcel, raft (if they are in the water) rookery and waddle. 

However, not all penguins live in the frozen wastes of Antarctica. The Galápagos penguin lives near the equator in the Galápagos Islands, while the Little Blue or Fairy penguin inhabits the coastal areas of Australia and New Zealand, and the Fiordland crested penguin is endemic to the temperate coastal forest of New Zealand’s South Island. The African penguin can be found along the southwest coast of Africa, while the Humboldt and Magellanic penguins live along the South American coasts, particularly in Chile and Argentina. 

Some penguins, like the Adélie, mate for life, while others, the Emperor, for example, are serially monogamous.

                Adélie penguins in the South Shetland  Islands, Antarctica

                                        Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Same-sex behaviour is common among penguins and has been observed more closely in zoos, which allow easier scrutiny. King penguin males at Berlin Zoo, Magellanic male penguins in San Francisco, a male Gentoo pair at Sea Life Aquarium in Sydney, a female Gentoo pair at L’Oceanogràfic in Valencia in Spain, male Chinstraps in Central Park Zoo, and a male Humboldt pair in London are just some of the pairings that have been recorded. Some have successfully incubated eggs and raised chicks. One male African penguin in the Netherlands stole an egg to incubate from a female pair.

The parents share responsibility for feeding and raising their chick, so, apart from the biological technicalities of mating, same sex couples are as adept at rearing chicks as their heterosexual peers.

When a penguin dies, members of the colony gather and use their wings and beaks to dig a deep hole. Then they roll the body into the grave and bury it, after which they congregate in a circle and sing, ‘Freeze a jolly good fellow, freeze a jolly good fellow . . . ‘

In fact, dead penguins are scavenged by skuas and petrels. The few that die on land rather than ice do not decay but gradually dry out. Fierce winds progressively ablate the corpses, turning them into dust.

The following photograph by cameraman Daniel J. Cox shows a colony of Emperor penguins bowed down in grief after their chicks died.

The next photograph, also copyright of Daniel J. Cox, shows the chicks’ bodies strewn across the Antarctic ice. The cause of death was unknown.

Unusually for wild animals, most penguins die of old age. Adélie penguins can live for up to fifteen years, while the much larger Emperor penguins can live for forty years. Unfortunate individuals fall prey to seals, sea lions, sharks, or orcas.

Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) with chick

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The Emperor penguin is the largest of the penguins and can attain a height of more than four feet.

Little Blue penguin family (Eudyptula minor) emerging from burrow, Bruny Island, Tasmania

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

By contrast, the Little Blue or Fairy penguin, at thirteen inches, is just over one foot. Fairy penguins return to their burrows at night after a day spent at sea.