Park rangers in South Africa are investigating a bizarre incident in which dozens of endangered African penguins appear to have been killed by honey bees.
Source: https://gizmodo.com/bee-swarm-kills-63-endangered-penguins-in-fluke-occur-1847707457
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The Article Was Written/Published By: George Dvorsky
By 2100, almost the entire Emperor penguin population could die out due to rapidly melting ice, suggests rese…
Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/news/566236-vast-majority-of-emperor-penguins-in-jeopardy-within-next-80-years-study
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Sarah Polus
A small group of king penguins have appeared on Martillo Island in Argentina. How they got there, and whether they will stay, is unknown.
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/mystery-worlds-loneliest-penguins/
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Victoria Turk, WIRED UK
A biologist working off the Ross Sea in Antarctica has stumbled upon an assortment of Adélie penguin remains, some of which appeared to have died only recently. Turns out these dead penguins are actually quite ancient, having been newly exposed by the effects of global warming.
Source: https://earther.gizmodo.com/melting-antarctic-ice-exposes-800-year-old-penguins-tha-1845242764
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The Article Was Written/Published By: George Dvorsky on Earther, shared by Brian Kahn to Gizmodo
‘Welcome to the world little one!’ aquarium writes on Facebook post
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/penguin-couple-same-sex-parents-egg-adopt-chick-born-oceanografic-valencia-a9678091.html
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Sabrina Barr
Satellites have spotted eight new emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica, as well as confirmed the existence of three others. While this sounds good, the unfortunate reality is that these newly discovered penguins are just as threatened as the rest.
Source: https://earther.gizmodo.com/satellite-images-reveal-new-penguin-colonies-in-melting-1844609508
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Yessenia Funes on Earther, shared by Rose Pastore to Gizmodo
Enlarge / Royaume Uni, Iles de la Georgie du Sud, Plaine de Salysbury, Manchot royal (Aptenodytes patagonicus) United Kingdom, South Georgia Islands, Salysbury plains, King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus). (Photo by Sylvain CORDIER/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images) (credit: Getty | Sylvain CORDIER )
We could all use a good laugh about now—and a whiff of penguin poop is certainly one way to get it.
Gobs of guano from king penguins in the sub-Antarctic give rise to comical clouds of nitrous oxide—aka laughing gas—according to a recent study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.
And—as if the wobbling, forever formally attired birds weren’t already amusing enough—the force of their farcical feces is enough to knock someone down with a tail feather, the researchers say.
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Source: https://arstechnica.com/?p=1678440
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Beth Mole
Experts believe they have found the ‘first compelling evidence’ for conformity to linguistic laws in non-primate species
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/penguin-science-study-language-linguistics-zipf-menzerathaltmann-torino-a9317921.html
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Vincent Wood
This video is apparently from January of 2019, but I saw it on Twitter the other day, accompanying the news about the record-breaking ice melt in Antarctica over the holidays.
Did you hear about that? How the ice in Antarctica is melting at alarming rates, because of climate change, which is real? There aren’t a lot of humans in Antarctica to witness the gradual encroach of our ecological apocalypse, but it’s happening.
MAR forced by GFS suggests that the highest melt extent over Antarctica in the modern area (>1979) has been reached on 24-Dec-2019 with ~15%. From Nov 2019 until today, the production of melt water is also a record with 230% higher than average but the melting season is not ended pic.twitter.com/MT0QKCJ47e
— Xavier Fettweis (@xavierfettweis) December 27, 2019
Anyway, the penguin video. It’s a thriller. That chunk of ice cracks off — again, because of rising global temperatures — and poor little penguin dude is stuck there is it floats away, while her other penguin friends are safe on the other side. I don’t think I’ve watched anything this intense since the last time I saw the end of Toy Story 3. I held my breath for damn near a minute, hoping that lil’ tuxedo’d waddler would be okay. If we’re not gonna freak out about climate change, we should at least be worried about our poor penguin friends!
But also, climate change is terrifying, and this penguin is a portent for the future that all of us are headed for.
Source: https://boingboing.net/2020/01/06/this-penguin-escaping-from-a-c.html
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Thom Dunn
Penguin are looking after egg ‘very well’, zookeeper says
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/penguin-couple-same-sex-gay-egg-steal-hatch-netherlands-a9213266.html
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Sabrina Barr
The people have spoken: The endangered yellow-eyed penguin has been named New Zealand’s Bird of the Year 2019.
Also known as hoiho or tarakaka, the endemic species received the most “number one” votes in a country-wide election.
Described by The Guardian as an “antisocial penguin that communicates by screaming,” the animal won 12,022 out of 43,460 verified votes.
Which is more than three times as many hoiho are left on the planet: 1,700 pairs, between mainland New Zealand and the sub-Antarctic islands.
The penguins—the world’s most endangered—are on track for local extinction within 40 years.
An infectious outbreak in the mid-2000s played a large role in the population’s decline, though human activity (fishing, pollution) has an equal (if not greater) influence.
“Sadly, many of New Zealand’s native birds are in crisis,” Forest & Bird, the independent conservation group that runs the poll, wrote on its website. “Two-thirds of our birds are threatened with extinction.”
An annual celebration of the country’s unique fowl, Bird of the Year helps “give them a voice.”
This is more than a silly census, though: The poll is taken so seriously, The Guardian reported, that competing campaigns invested in full-size billboard ads and voters were forced to validate their identities.
The hoiho has made history today! In a huge upset, the hoiho has come from behind to shatter the feathered ceiling, and…
Posted by Forest & Bird on Sunday, November 10, 2019
As its name suggests, the yellow-eyed penguin—the largest of its kind to breed on mainland New Zealand—boasts a pair of golden peepers, as well as a band of pale yellow feathers around its head.
Mostly silent, it makes a shrill bray-like call at nest and breeding sites.
“They’re a very antisocial species,” campaign spokesman Thor Elley, a University of Otago zoology student, told The Guardian. “They don’t nest within sight of other penguins.”
Reunions, however, are a different story: When mates return home to each other, they stand upright, flipper-to-flipper, and begin what Yolanda van Heezick, an associate professor of zoology, called “an ecstatic ceremony.”
“They are screamingly happy to see each other again,” she said, according to the newspaper.
This marks the first win for seabirds in the competition’s 14-year history. Hoiho inched ahead in the final days of voting, beating 2008 winner the kākāpō by a narrow margin.
“It was so close between these two amazing endangered birds, it was impossible to predict a winner for most of the competition,” Forest & Bird spokesperson Megan Hubscher said in a statement to the New Zealand Herald.
The kakaruia (black robin) took third, the Tūturiwhatu (banded dotterel) came in fourth, and the Piwakawaka (fantail) rounded out the top five.
“Bird of the Year has become a national passion, and that’s thanks to everyone relentlessly and ruthlessly promoting their favorite bird’s weirdest qualities to the globe,” Hubscher said.
“Our birds are so incredible and unique,” she added. “All New Zealand birds are winners.”
More on Geek.com:
Source: https://www.geek.com/culture/yellow-eyed-penguin-is-2019s-new-zealand-bird-of-the-year-1809988/?source
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Stephanie Mlot
The world can be a cruel, unforgiving place.
But, somehow, watching Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez play and dance with a penguin makes everything just a little bit better. Even if only for a moment.
On Saturday, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted a video of herself and her flipper-sporting friend engaged in a round of what looks to be playful dance. Seriously, it’s adorable. The penguin is all the way in.
“A new day, a new friend,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote of her encounter.
Importantly, Ocasio-Cortez is not roaming around Antarctica. Rather, she appears to be in a science museum or zoo. The display next to the penguin enclosure includes facts about African Penguins — which have a home in the Maryland Zoo, among other places. Read more…
More about Penguins, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Watercooler, and Animals
Source: https://mashable.com/article/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-penguin-dance/
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Jack Morse
