Pasha the Penguin

Welcome!

from flickr, by peyoung

Game: Mr Penguin

Try and save the heroine on the other end of the level by flying with your trusted jet pack, collect the fuel and avoid the obstacles.

Happy Feet Dances Off with Oscar

There was no checkered flag for Disney and Pixar this year as Cars was upset by Warner Bros.’ Happy Feet, which snagged the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Sunday night at the 79th Annual Academy Awards. Many expected the night to be a victory lap for director John Lasseter's Cars, which has had a successful awards season run that resulted in top toon awards at the Golden Globes, the Annies and the People’s Choice Awards, among others. Disney fared better on the visual effects side as Industrial Light & Magic as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest plundered Oscar gold for visual effects.

As a testament to how important animation has become in Hollywood, the Oscar broadcast started off with an animated segment that featured a group of penguin characters from Happy Feet sending Mumbles off to Tinsel Town for the big night. In his travels to sunny California, Mumbles even came across Lightning McQueen, the Owen Wilson character from Cars.

Penguin picks: Tuxedoed pair choose 'Happy Feet' for the win

In the Oscar-nominated animated feature film "Happy Feet," Emperor penguins express their love with a song.

Thursday morning, King penguin Scout and Gentoo penguin Gilbert at Riverbanks Zoo & Garden expressed their love for our yearly Oscar picks with sounds that would make Abigail Breslin's "Little Miss Sunshine" pageant contestant jealous.

This is the second year the Herald-Journal has asked for the assistance of the penguins in our Oscar picks. Last year, they knew "March of the Penguins" would march away with the Oscar for Best Documentary.

We decided to seek their advice since "Happy Feet," which has a cool environmental message, is nominated for Best Animated Feature against "Cars" and "Monster House."

Percy Penguin

Gourmet Amigurumi by Elisabeth Doherty

Wait for me!

Photo made on board the Greenpeace ship Esperanza's expedition to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to find the Japanese whaling fleet
© Dave Walsh
from flickr, by blather

Penguin guard dogs to stay

MAREMMA guard dogs will protect Middle Island's penguin colony from extinction for another year, with the area to again be off-limits for visitors.

Warrnambool City Council last night deemed the initial four-week trial to ward off predators a success and will send the dogs back to the island in May.

The council also agreed to explore the trial's research possibilities, believing valuable data could be gained from the world-first initiative.

``This is potentially a very significant project. I think we might not realise its significance for Victoria, Australia and the world,'' Cr Jacinta Ermacora told the council. The island's fairy penguin population has fallen to less than 100 in recent
years due to foxes and dogs.

Short-tailed shearwater numbers have similarly been impacted by the unwanted predators.

A report prepared for the council found the dog's presence during its 27-day stay on the island late last year deterred foxes, while having minimal impact on the penguins.

Penguin Bed

Penguin bed, originally uploaded by surrealpenguin.
(via)

Antarctic Peninsula warming affects penguins, krill

While much of Antarctica has cooled over the past decade, a warming trend in the Antarctic Peninsula may indicate what the future holds for the rest of the icy continent's wildlife. Researchers at Ohio State University say that higher temperatures have already forced penguin populations to migrate south and may have reduced the availability of krill that serve as the based of the Antarctic food chain.

"We're already seeing the marine ecosystems respond dramatically to increases in temperatures along the Antarctic Peninsula," said Berry Lyons, professor in the School of Earth Sciences and director of the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University. "Researchers are seeing the movement of penguin populations southward down the peninsula as sea ice lessens along its margins," Lyons said. "Gentoo and chinstrap penguins are shifting south into areas now populated by adelie penguins, and the adelies are being forced further south, all because of the change in sea ice."

Frosty the Penguin

Frosty the Penguin White T-Shirt

Calling all penguin lovers, this cute penguin design is one of a kind. An inkblot forming the cutest penguin with snowflakes and swirls. A must have for those who love cute items.

How to pick out a penguin

It has long been a source of wonder to nature watchers. As huge throngs of seemingly identical penguins crowd the South Atlantic shoreline, birds returning from long fishing trips can unerringly pick out their relatives in the midst of what sounds like bedlam.

Now scientists have discovered that, against all odds, penguins can recognise their significant other by their individual call.

During the research, reported in the journal Animal Behavior, calls made by individual penguins were recorded and then played back to them to see who recognised what. The birds succeeded in identifying their mates, a particularly important ability because penguins share parenting and must be able to find one another quickly when they have been away at sea searching for food.

The research also shows that chicks can home in on the calls of their parents, and ignore the noises being made by other birds. Chicks often wander off when the parents are away and need to recognise calls when they get back to the nest. If they approach adults that are not their parents, they may be subject to a physical attack.

Little Packrats Penguin backpack

Irresistible "wetsuit" flippers make this Arctic friend the coolest of the new hot items from Little Packrats. Royal blue and yellow accent this black and white bird on a 7" x 11" x 3" pack.

Penguin alert as whaler catches fire off Antarctic

New Zealand gave warning of a possible environmental disaster in the Antarctic today after the flagship of the Japanese whaling fleet caught fire in the sea off the world's largest penguin breeding site.

The blaze on board the Nisshin Maru, the so-called "mother ship" that travels with Japan's whale-hunting vessels, is under control, according to New Zealand's Conservation Minister, but there is still danger that some of the 1.3 million litres of oil on board will leak into the otherwise clean southern seas.

The ship is adrift around 110 miles (174km) south west of Cape Adare on the Ross Sea coast of the Antarctic: where around 250,000 pairs of penguins gather to breed each year. It is 267 miles (429km) north of the American McMurdo base, the largest in Antarctica, which is set amongst colonies of skua, emperor and adlie penguins.

"It is a serious situation ... a ship badly damaged and full of toxic oil," Chris Carter told New Zealand's National Radio after a news conference in Wellington.

Black-footed penguins at Newport Aquarium

Happy feet

from flickr, by CCCvrcak

'Tux' Wins Penguin Naming Contest

More than 9,000 people voted online through denverzoo.org to pick the name. "Tux" was the winner with 39 percent of the votes.

Usually when a baby arrives at the Denver Zoo, someone at the zoo gets the privilege of naming the animal. This time around the zoo decided to do things a little differently.

More than 600 people submitted name suggestions to cbs4denver.com last month. Users were then able to vote for the most popular suggestion to our Web site. CBS4 forwarded that name to Denver Zoo and it competed against the other media suggestions.

The name "Tux" beat out the other two suggestions of "Dassen" and "Shivers."

The male penguin hatched at the zoo on Oct. 18. He will be wearing a yellow arm band for easy identification.

March of the Penguins

from flickr, by Sidereal

Amigurumi Penguin

This little penguin is crocheted with fuzzy, black and white yarn. Penguin has hand stitched details and wears a bow with a pretty heart charm. Measures about 4" tall.
by Amigurumi Kingdom

Little penguin

from flickr, by y❍rrik