tagged w/ Penguins
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Penguin Nils Olav has been an honorary member and mascot of the Norwegian King's Guard since 1972.
Over the years, he has been promoted through the ranks after being adopted by Royal Guard who visited the zoo.
During the ceremony, Nils had a sword dubbed on each side of his head, where his shoulders should be, to confirm his regimental knighthood.
A crowd of several hundred people joined the 130 guardsmen at the zoo. A citation from King Harald the Fifth of Norway was read out, which described Nils as a penguin "in every way qualified to receive the honour and dignity of knighthood".
The guardsmen come to see Nils every few years while they are in Edinburgh performing at the city's Military Tattoo.
The proud penguin was on his best behaviour throughout most of the ceremony, but shortly before the ritual was concluded and possibly suffering a bout of nerves he was seen to deposit a discreet white puddle on the ground.
Love this pic - he's reviewing the troops!Penguin Nils Olav has been an honorary member and mascot of the Norwegian King's... more
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I'm not hugely sure what is going on here, but this seems to be Nils Olav the penguin, and he seems to have been an honorary member of the Royal Guard since 1972. In recognition of his sterling performance over many years, Nils Olav is being knighted, and from this day forth shall be known as Sir Nils Olav.
Your guess is as good as mine.I'm not hugely sure what is going on here, but this seems to be Nils Olav the... more
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An Edinburgh zoo penguin who is a Colonel-in-Chief of the Norwegian Army is set to be bestowed with a new military honour.
Penguin Nils Olav has been an honorary member and mascot of the Norwegian King's Guard since the 1980s. Over the years, he has been promoted and is currently the regiment's Colonel-in-Chief.
The regiment recruited its first penguin when a young lieutenant called Nils Egelien first visited the zoo in the 1970s. When the original bird died about 20 years ago, Nils Olav took over the position. Ever since, he has received regular visits from the Guardsmen when they are in Edinburgh to perform at the Military Tattoo. He has received medals for long service and had a 4ft bronze statue built in his honour.
David Windmill, chief executive of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, the charity that owns Edinburgh Zoo, said: "We have a long-standing history with the Norwegian King's Guard and it is something we are extremely proud of.
Norwegian King's guardsman, Captain Rune Wiik, stated: "We are extremely proud of Nils Olav and pleased that an enduring part of the Royal Guard is resident in Scotland helping to further strengthen ties between our two countries." An Edinburgh zoo penguin who is a Colonel-in-Chief of the Norwegian Army is set to be... more
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When you think of locations for penguins, Antarctica is probably your first guess. If you know a bit more about penguins, you might point to Patagonia or even down my way, where the Fairy Penguins live at Phillip Island. However I would very much hope that you wouldn’t predict that they could be making their way as far north as Bahia, one of the 26 states of Brazil.When you think of locations for penguins, Antarctica is probably your first guess. If... more
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Brazilian wildlife authorities have reported that Penguins from freezing waters near the bottom of the world are washing up close to the equator.
Adelson Cerqueira Silva, of the federal environment agency, said approx 300 penguins have been found dead or alive in recent days. Biologists believe stronger-than-usual ocean currents have pulled the birds north. Others have suggested the increase might be due to overfishing near Patagonia and Antarctica which has forced the penguins to swim further in search of food.Brazilian wildlife authorities have reported that Penguins from freezing waters near... more
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A major rescue operation was launched in northern Scotland yesterday after reports of a light aircraft crashing into the sea. Three coastguard teams, a lifeboat and a helicopter from RAF Lossiemouth were dispatched to the scene, but the crashed wreckage turned out to be two 3ft-long deflated penguin balloons.A major rescue operation was launched in northern Scotland yesterday after reports of... more
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Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead on Rio de Janeiro's tropical beaches, rescuers and penguin experts said Friday.
More than 400 penguins, most of them young, have been found dead on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro state over the past two months, according to Eduardo Pimenta, superintendent for the state coastal protection and environment agency in the resort city of Cabo Frio.
While it is common here to find some penguins — both dead and alive — swept by strong ocean currents from the Strait of Magellan, Pimenta said there have been more this year than at any time in recent memory.
Rescuers and those who treat penguins are divided over the possible causes.
Thiago Muniz, a veterinarian at the Niteroi Zoo, said he believed overfishing has forced the penguins to swim further from shore to find fish to eat "and that leaves them more vulnerable to getting caught up in the strong ocean currents."
Niteroi, the state's biggest zoo, already has already received about 100 penguins for treatment this year and many are drenched in petroleum, Muniz said. The Campos oil field that supplies most of Brazil's oil lies offshore.
Muniz said he hadn't seen penguins suffering from the effects of other pollutants, but he pointed out that already dead penguins aren't brought in for treatment.
Pimenta suggested pollution is to blame.
"Aside from the oil in the Campos basin, the pollution is lowering the animals' immunity, leaving them vulnerable to funguses and bacteria that attack their lungs," Pimenta said, quoting biologists who work with him.
But biologist Erli Costa of Rio de Janeiro's Federal University suggested weather patterns could be involved.
"I don't think the levels of pollution are high enough to affect the birds so quickly. I think instead we're seeing more young and sick penguins because of global warming, which affects ocean currents and creates more cyclones, making the seas rougher," Costa said.
Costa said the vast majority of penguins turning up are baby birds that have just left the nest and are unable to out-swim the strong ocean currents they encounter while searching for food.
Every year, Brazil airlifts dozens of penguins back to Antarctica or Patagonia.Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are... more
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Thousands of dead penguins have been washing ashore Brazil's Rio De Janeiro beaches...Thousands of dead penguins have been washing ashore Brazil's Rio De Janeiro... more
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July 18, 2008 -- Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead on Rio de Janeiro's tropical beaches, rescuers and penguin experts said Friday.
More than 400 penguins, most of them young, have been found dead on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro state over the past two months, according to Eduardo Pimenta, superintendent for the state coastal protection and environment agency in the resort city of Cabo Frio.
While it is common here to find some penguins -- both dead and alive -- swept by strong ocean currents from the Strait of Magellan, Pimenta said there have been more this year than at any time in recent memory.
Rescuers and those who treat penguins are divided over the possible causes.
Thiago Muniz, a veterinarian at the Niteroi Zoo, said he believed overfishing has forced the penguins to swim further from shore to find fish to eat "and that leaves them more vulnerable to getting caught up in the strong ocean currents."
Niteroi, the state's biggest zoo, already has already received about 100 penguins for treatment this year and many are drenched in petroleum, Muniz said. The Campos oil field that supplies most of Brazil's oil lies offshore.
Muniz said he hadn't seen penguins suffering from the effects of other pollutants, but he pointed out that already dead penguins aren't brought in for treatment.
Pimenta suggested pollution is to blame.
For the rest of this story:
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/07/18/dead-baby-penguins.htmlJuly 18, 2008 -- Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and... more
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RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead on Rio de Janeiro's tropical beaches, rescuers and penguin experts said Friday.
More than 400 penguins, most of them young, have been found dead on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro state over the past two months, according to Eduardo Pimenta, superintendent for the state coastal protection and environment agency in the resort city of Cabo Frio.
While it is common here to find some penguins — both dead and alive — swept by strong ocean currents from the Strait of Magellan, Pimenta said there have been more this year than at any time in recent memory.
Rescuers and those who treat penguins are divided over the possible causes.
Thiago Muniz, a veterinarian at the Niteroi Zoo, said he believed overfishing has forced the penguins to swim further from shore to find fish to eat "and that leaves them more vulnerable to getting caught up in the strong ocean currents."
Niteroi, the state's biggest zoo, already has already received about 100 penguins for treatment this year and many are drenched in petroleum, Muniz said. The Campos oil field that supplies most of Brazil's oil lies offshore.
Muniz said he hadn't seen penguins suffering from the effects of other pollutants, but he pointed out that already dead penguins aren't brought in for treatment.
Pimenta suggested pollution is to blame.
"Aside from the oil in the Campos basin, the pollution is lowering the animals' immunity, leaving them vulnerable to funguses and bacteria that attack their lungs," Pimenta said, quoting biologists who work with him.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of... more
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"Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead on Rio de Janeiro's tropical beaches, rescuers and penguin experts said Friday.
More than 400 penguins, most of them young, have been found dead on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro state over the past two months, according to Eduardo Pimenta, superintendent for the state coastal protection and environment agency in the resort city of Cabo Frio.
While it is common here to find some penguins — both dead and alive — swept by strong ocean currents from the Strait of Magellan, Pimenta said there have been more this year than at any time in recent memory.
Rescuers and those who treat penguins are divided over the possible causes.
Thiago Muniz, a veterinarian at the Niteroi Zoo, said he believed overfishing has forced the penguins to swim further from shore to find fish to eat "and that leaves them more vulnerable to getting caught up in the strong ocean currents."
Niteroi, the state's biggest zoo, already has already received about 100 penguins for treatment this year and many are drenched in petroleum, Muniz said. The Campos oil field that supplies most of Brazil's oil lies offshore.
Muniz said he hadn't seen penguins suffering from the effects of other pollutants, but he pointed out that already dead penguins aren't brought in for treatment.
Pimenta suggested pollution is to blame.
"Aside from the oil in the Campos basin, the pollution is lowering the animals' immunity, leaving them vulnerable to funguses and bacteria that attack their lungs," Pimenta said, quoting biologists who work with him.
But biologist Erli Costa of Rio de Janeiro's Federal University suggested weather patterns could be involved.
"I don't think the levels of pollution are high enough to affect the birds so quickly. I think instead we're seeing more young and sick penguins because of global warming, which affects ocean currents and creates more cyclones, making the seas rougher," Costa said.
Costa said the vast majority of penguins turning up are baby birds that have just left the nest and are unable to out-swim the strong ocean currents they encounter while searching for food.
Every year, Brazil airlifts dozens of penguins back to Antarctica or Patagonia."
By Michael Astor, Associated Press"Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia... more
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This January—deep summer in Antarctica—explorer Jon Bowermaster suffered through a five-day stretch of torrential rains on the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula. The same cannot be said for thousands of downy penguin chicks.
Epic rains are unusual in Antarctica, even in summer, said Bowermaster, who had been in the region on an expedition funded in part by the National Geographic Society's Expeditions Council.
With daytime temperatures above freezing, the rains soaked young Adélie and gentoo penguins not yet equipped with water-repellent feathers.
At night, when the mercury dipped below freezing, the wet chicks froze.
Many, many, many of them—thousands of them—were dying," Bowermaster said.
The experience, he added, painted a clear and grim picture of the impact of global climate change.
"It's not just melting ice," he said. "It's actually killing these cute little birds that are so popular in the movies."
The freezing of chicks is just one example of how human activity is endangering about two thirds of all penguin species, according to a new paper based on decades of research and observations.
The conservation biologist behind the paper, Dee Boersma of the University of Washington, points out some of the many ways penguins are suffering, such as by ingesting oil from spills, by being run over by tourists, by having their nesting times confused by climate change, and by losing their prey to changing currents.
This January—deep summer in Antarctica—explorer Jon Bowermaster suffered... more
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You may think penguins all look the same, but a computer system on a South African island knows better. It can identify individual birds from subtle differences in their plumage.
The technology could help researchers monitor threatened populations without using more invasive methods that can distress or harm the birds.
There were 1 million African penguins at the beginning of the 20th century, but that number has plummeted to around 170,000.
Studying the remaining penguins is important to conserve the population, but the usual practice of tagging flippers with metal bands can reduce breeding performance and human contact stresses penguins.
Tilo Burghardt and Peter Barham, both at the University of Bristol, UK, think their remote camera system is the answer.
The camera can identify individuals from the unique black chest markings on each bird and is currently being tested on the 20,000 African penguins on Robben Island, South Africa.
You may think penguins all look the same, but a computer system on a South African... more
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A zoo in Germany has scrapped its plans to break up homosexual penguin couples after gay rights groups protested against it.
Gay Penguins
The Bremerhaven Zoo had noticed that three penguin couples turned out to be all male. In an attempt to encourage the penguins to reproduce the zoo had flown in four female penguins.
The plan was too introduce the female birds too the male which would hopefully lead to the endangered species reproducing, but the zoo abandoned its plans after gay rights groups protested against the experiment.
The zoo's director Heike Kueck said: "Everyone can live here as they please."
Kueck said it was never their intention to separate the couples by force and even if it was their intention, it wouldn't be possible to make them be interested in their new female companions.
Gay groups had earlier protested against "the organised and forced harassment through female seductresses" in an open letter to Bremerhaven's Mayor.A zoo in Germany has scrapped its plans to break up homosexual penguin couples after... more
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In this cute ad, watch what what you can do with a little motivation, a couple million dollars, and sympathy for the unluckier ones in the bird family.In this cute ad, watch what what you can do with a little motivation, a couple million... more
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tcrane
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The California Academy of Sciences aquatic biologists moved two African penguins, Pete and Dunker, from their temporary home on Howard Street to the newly completed museum in Golden Gate Park on Tuesday. The two penguins were brought over ahead of the rest to test out the new habitat that is slated to be open to the public when the museum opens in September, 2008. Camera and editing: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, Chronicle Staff The California Academy of Sciences aquatic biologists moved two African penguins, Pete... more
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The use of DDT peaked several decades ago at more than 36,000 metric tons per year (t/yr). Today, less than 1000 t of the organochlorine pesticide—banned in most countries since the 1980s—is applied annually for mosquito control and farming, mainly in the Southern Hemisphere. Despite this drop, Adélie penguins in the Antarctic continue to have the same levels of total DDT in their bodies as they did 30 years ago. New research published in ES&T (DOI: 10.1021/es702919n) identifies Antarctic meltwater as the continued source of total DDT, and possibly other pollutants, in the southern continent's ecosystems.
HEIDI GEISZ
DDT metabolites continue to accumulate in the fatty deposits of Adélie penguins in the Antarctic. Researchers say melting snow and ice could be releasing decades-old DDT and its derivatives into South Pole ecosystems.DDT and other persistent organic pollutants (POPs) follow atmospheric paths to the Antarctic and the Arctic and eventually are deposited there in snow and ice. Animals at both poles sequester the derivatives p,p′-DDT and p,p′-DDE in their fat. But while Arctic-dwelling creatures such as birds, whales, and seals have shown a dramatic drop in total DDT levels during the past decade, levels in Adélie penguins in the Antarctic have remained steady, according to the new results.
Adélie penguins, which are protected under international conservation rules, live across the continent and overwinter there. The birds' stationary behavior makes them apt subjects for studying Antarctic sources of DDT and possibly other POPs; migratory birds such as skuas, which winter in South America or closer to the equator, could pick up these chemicals on their travels.
Focusing on DDT, Heidi Geisz of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and her colleagues sampled dead Adélie penguins and abandoned eggs from two different populations. They measured total DDT in the breastplate fat sac of each bird as well as in the addled or frozen eggs. The researchers compared their findings with past measurements reported in the literature as far back as 1964. They found that the ratio of p,p′-DDT to p,p′-DDE declined over time; this shift indicates that the birds are exposed to the remnants of older DDT deposition, not new sources.
To pinpoint where the older DDT might be coming from, the researchers used measurements of glacial outwash taken in the past few years. (Directly measuring ice and snow remains technically difficult.) From those data, they estimated that melted snow and ice could be providing about 1–4 kilograms per year of DDT to offshore Antarctic ecosystems.
more at the link
The use of DDT peaked several decades ago at more than 36,000 metric tons per year... more
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The BBC reports the first ever interspecies sexual attack. A young male Antarctic fur seal pinned down a king penguin and attempted to mate with it for 45 minutes. The penguin resisted and tried to escape, but the seal overpowered the penguin in size and determination.
Scientists are unsure what compelled the young seal to attempt to mate with the penguin. They speculate the young seal was not allowed to mate with females of his own species because of his age, so he acted out aggressively. Sometimes fur seals eat king penguins, so it is also possible that his predatory instinct became sexualized.
When the seal was finished with the penguin, he largely ignored it. The penguin was physically unharmed by the incident. We can only imagine the emotional scars. The BBC reports the first ever interspecies sexual attack. A young male Antarctic fur... more
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French musical artist Emilie Simon created the original soundtrack for the hit documentary "March of The Penguins"...that documentary also included dialogging penguins. Find out what happened here.French musical artist Emilie Simon created the original soundtrack for the hit... more
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