Monday, June 22, 2009

What happens when penguins die?

Did you ever wonder why there are no dead penguins on the ice in Antarctica - where do they go?

Wonder no more!!!

It is a known fact that the penguin is a very ritualistic bird which lives an extremely ordered and complex life.

The penguin is very committed to its family and will mate for life, as well as maintaining a form of compassionate contact with its offspring throughout its life.

If a penguin is found dead on the ice surface, other members of the family and social circle have been known to dig holes in the ice, using their vestigial wings and beaks, until the hole is deep enough for the dead bird to be rolled into and buried.

The male penguins then gather in a circle around the fresh grave and sing: Freeze A Jolly Good Fellow.



(via Bits & Pieces)

Friday, June 12, 2009

Penguin chick has two dads

Two male Humboldt penguins cautiously guard the entrance to their cave in the "Zoo am Meer" zoological park in Bremerhaven, northern Germany, where they are fostering a six weeks old penguin chick.

After a penguin egg had been abandoned by its biological parents, it was placed in the male penguins' nest, who then adopted and hatched it.

Bremerhaven zoo veterinarian Schoene said the male birds, named Z and Vielpunkt, are one of three same-sex pairs among the zoo's 20 Humboldt penguins that have attempted to mate.

AP Photo/Focke Strangmann

Source

(via the Pet Blog)

Thursday, June 11, 2009

I'm getting closer to my home


Penguins walk toward the ocean after being released near Cape Town, South Africa. The 38 birds had been treated for oil pollution they'd suffered in Namibia.

Photo: GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images
May 26, 2009

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Penguin News


Source: Life
Photo: Imagno/Getty Images
Jan 01, 1935

Monday, June 1, 2009