Tuxedoed Lighting

Pinguino Lamps

 Now here’s a nice accent piece for a desk or even a modern style living room. Usually modern’s not our taste but this could be an exception. I wonder if I could requisition one for my desk at work…

Add the charm and elegance of nature’s classiest animal to your office or home with this sleek, modernist lamp. An ideal companion on a desk, vanity or bedside table, each of these critters stands on its own two feet to add a little light to your life. And it has a convenient switch in back, too.

Uses a 20-watt G4 halogen bulb, included. Imported.
Price: $50.00
Size: 15 inches tall by 4.5 inches in diameter

First artificially incubated penguin

The first penguin chick to be hatched from an artificially incubated egg in Malaysia is now 13 days old and growing fatter at the Underwater World Langkawi (UWL).

UWL senior curator Tan Ean Kok said the Black Footed African penguin chick weighed just 72gm when it was hatched. It now weighs a healthy 170gm.

Tan said the success of the breeding programme through incubation would further ensure the survival of the penguins held in captivity.

Read more at thestar.com.my

Friday Video: Magellanic Chicks

Magellanic penguin chicks learning how to swim
at the Avian Conservation Center in San Francisco.

World Penguin Day

On the 25th of April every year, the Adelie penguins in the Antarctic begin their annual northward migration. The Adelies start migrating in the Antarctic fall season and won’t return to their colonies until the following spring. In true synchronized fashion, the Adelies dive into the frigid waters answering their Nature’s call to migrate. They will swim north for only a few hundred miles (around 600km) and stay among icebergs that are floating about, feasting on krill and other penguin delicacies. So really, these penguins don’t actually go anywhere when they migrate. They’ll bob around in the ocean and rest on the ice until it’s time to head back home to Antarctica. Actually, the reason they do this is because the days in Antarctica are becoming darker during this time of year. Adelies do not see too well in the dark so they migrate north so they can hunt for food, otherwise they would starve.

Have a wonderful Penguin Day and try to do something penguinish, whether it be reading more about them, go to the zoo or aquarium, or maybe buying up hordes of penguin merchandise.

Credit: peterkelly at flickr

Friday Video: Newport Aquarium Penguins

 

Video footage from my recent trip to the Newport Aquarium. The King penguins pretty much just stood there and stared at everyone while the Gentoos were busy putting on diving show.

Penguin Luggage, anyone?

From babygadget.com:

We all know how stressful traveling with children can be, especially with the appalling state of American airports. I don’t want to get political on anyone here, but I will say my willingness to take road trips has gone way up in recent years. Help yourself out with carrying luggage by giving your children control over their own bags, and nothing is more delightful than a suitcase that looks like a penguin.

This is as full-featured as a regular suitcase, and features wheels as well as a collapsible handle so you can roll it around the airport. Even the price, $62, is easy on the wallet. I will say the top is a little disturbing, the penguins head ends…abruptly.

That’s some cute little suitcase there. I bet my daughter would love one of those since she’s becoming quite the penguin aficionado.

King Penguin swimming

Credit: geordiepete at flickr