Going for a Walk

The king penguins at the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo are being let out of their enclosures for a weekly walk about the zoo. The zoo’s officials say they’re letting them out to ease homesickness and the stress of being in capitivity. For their 30 minute walk, the penguins get to enjoy a 300 meter (.18 mile) excursion within the zoo. I concur – an awesome idea. If the penguins were in the wild, they would be walking quite a bit so this should help them feel more at home. We keep animals in capitivity for the public to see but we also have to keep in mind that we can make them happier by bring home to them.

“This was not the first time I saw penguins but watching them march like this was certainly new to me,” said nine-year-old Chin Isseki.

The penguins, too, seem to enjoy their excursion — officials say the birds appear less stressed after their walks.

Shopping Penguin

Lala, the 14 year old king penguin goes shopping in Japan wearing its own little backpack. Cute.

Coming Soon: I-CY

What’s black and white and cool all over? I-CY, the performing penguin! This waddling wonder loves to dive into music: rock, punk, rap, hip-hop, dance, techno, and more. Watch I-CY flap its flippers to your tunes, and make it happy with lots of music and interaction! I-CY communicates moods through musical riffs, movement and tons of blinking light patterns! It even squawks to let you know when it needs more attention! I-CY loves to move and groove to your music, but watch out – flick its tail, and it won’t be happy! Plug in and chill out with I-CY!

I will need one of these when they come out in March. I got my wife an I-Dog for Christmas and since that was pretty cute, this should be utterly adorable.

Penguin killers at large

I was appalled to read about the horrible slaughter of three little blue penguins at a colony in Melbourne, Australia. The three fairy penguins were found with evidence of stabs, slashes, and heavy trauma – one found with a broken back. Who would do such a deplorable thing? Especially to birds that may not have been even a foot tall and would have a slim chance of escaping. I hope they find who is responsible for this heinous act and punish them to the full extent of Australian law.

“This area is jointly managed as a Wildlife Management Co-operative Area and our committee members are very disturbed that someone could act with such disregard for the welfare of the colony. These actions are totally deplorable and we will continue to work closely with DSE investigators to identify the culprits and bring them to justice.”

– Angeline Tew, Parks Victoria Acting Chief Ranger

America’s affair with penguins

Have penguins taken the country by storm? It does seem that the popularity of penguins has risen in the past couple of years, especially since March of the Penguins came out in theaters. Now that Happy Feet debuted last November, more and more companies are jumping on the penguin bandwagon to use as spokesbirds or just cuteness magnets in their advertisements to anything winter-related.

“I think it’s because penguins are incredibly charismatic. There’s also their funny-looking upright stance, their inquisitive nature, their quirky behaviors – all these make for one really intriguing bird.”

– Christina Slager, Monterey Bay Aquarium

Lately penguins have been making the Internet their second home. Back in the 1990’s, only Linux fans gave an open reception to penguins as Tux became the mascot of the Linux operating system. Now other sites like Yahoo and AOL are bringing the birds out into the mainstream. They do seem to be everyone’s favorite animal list.

I definitely welcome the outpour of penguin goodness. It definitely makes it easier for me to find collectibles and pictures in my pursuit of everything black, white, and waddling.

The Penguin Connection

Now here’s somewhere I would like to go someday. The National Aviary located in Pittsburgh, PA, features a close encounter program where visitors can get up close and personal with one of four African penguins. A small group sits in a circle where the penguin walks freely among them, interacting with you – even letting you touch its feathers. This is definitely something I would want to bring the entire family and share my fascination with penguins. I’m pretty sure my children would love the experience as well, especially my daughter who can spot a penguin a mile away. Maybe we can make it a family vacation in a year or so.

“Our penguins are among the most beloved birds here at the Aviary, and people are excited by the opportunity to get close to and learn about these remarkable birds.”

– Nicole Begley, National Aviary

 

Case of the Receding Rockhoppers

The rockhopper penguin population in the Falkland Islands has been dropping in recent years – 180,000 birds less in six years. Scientists and researchers say they aren’t sure what is causing them population levels to decline so rapidly but global warming may have a possible connection.

“All around the world from New Zealand to the Falklands there used to be all these huge colonies. Populations separated by 1,000km of sea are all crashing. It’s an astonishing decline, the populations have just crashed over the last few decades and we really don’t know why. It’s quite sinister, we have got millions of penguins just disappearing. There must be some major big thing going wrong in the eco-system. We did see some clues [in the feathers study] and the finger is tentatively pointing at global warming.”

– Dr. Geoff Hilton

I think we have all noticed an overall dramatic change in environmental events around the globe (Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, etc…). Some scientists have claimed global warming as an accomplice to help set the stage for these disasters to occur. I’m not saying they’re right or wrong, but there does seem to be more and more evidence that would point in that general direction. Research in this area should possibly be taken more seriously. Missing penguins aside, this is the only Earth we’ve got.