Penguins Three

Emperor Penguins

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Image copyright Daniel J Cox

I decided to research penguins and death and came across this extraordinary image, captured by cameraman Daniel J Cox. It shows a colony of Emperor penguins bowed down in grief after their chicks died.

Image copyright Daniel J Cox

The chicks' bodies lie strewn across the Antarctic ice

Penguins have relatively few predators and can, unusually for wild animals, die of old age. They can live for many years, up to 15 years for Adelie penguins, and remarkably, 40 years for Emperors.  Dead penguins are consumed by scavengers like skuas and petrels. Those few that die on land not covered by ice do not decay but dry out. Eventually thy are ablated by strong winds and become dust. Occasionally penguin fossils are found.

The oldest penguin fossils, from 10 million to 12 million years ago, have been discovered in South Africa. Of the 17 species of penguins found today 13 are threatened or endangered, with some, like the Galapagos penguins, on the edge of extinction. You can read more about penguins here and here.

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 . . . ;-)