Monday, February 28, 2011

N. Ky. aquarium adds penguins


Posted: 12:01am on Feb 27, 2011

When the Newport Aquarium's renovated penguin exhibit reopens next month, it will be a playground for both people and penguins.
The birds will get a new home with a rocky wall, a waterfall and an expanded ceiling while visitors will get an improved seating area, a live show and a play area.
"I think this new exhibit that we have is going to really be exciting for all of our guests," said Ric Urban, the aquarium's curator of birds and mammals, "because it's a new and exciting exhibit both on the guest side and on the animal side."
The newly dubbed Penguin Palooza will also include two new species, the rockhopper penguin and the Inca tern. With the addition of the rockhopper, the aquarium will become one of the few attractions in the country with four species of cold-climate penguins on display, Urban said.
The popular penguin exhibit closed Jan. 3 and the birds were moved to a warehouse facility about a mile from the aquarium. The new exhibit is scheduled to open March 26.
"You can stand out here on a Saturday afternoon and you can hear the guests go, 'where are the penguins?'" Urban said. "They miss them, but I think it will be well worth the wait."
The penguin exhibit is the last visitors encounter before leaving the aquarium. The renovation is the most expensive upgrade since the facility opened in 1999, though officials declined to say how much it cost.
"It's important for our guests to be happy but change is necessary," he said. "This is one of our anchor exhibits, and one of our most popular exhibits."
A new seating area will bring visitors closer to the birds and children will be able to stand against the glass of the 8,000-gallon salt-water pool. There will also be a live show, with a presenter telling the audience facts about the penguins while a large flat-screen TV features animated penguins.
The public space will also be expanded by 660 square feet to include more information about penguins and three life-size penguin sculptures where children can pose for photos.
Inside the 1,000-square-foot penguin habitat, six new rock hoppers will join the 28 other penguins including king, gentoo and chinstrap.
Rock hoppers are among the smallest penguins, with an average length of 20 inches and an average weight of about 6.5 pounds, aquarium officials said. The Cincinnati Zoo and the Louisville Zoo both have the rock hopper penguins. Only four other institutions in the county have chinstrap penguins.
The renovations added several outcroppings to the formerly flat rock wall, giving the penguins more places to perch. There's also an artificial ice hole that the birds can swim through. Another artificial ice feature will trickle water down the side of a rock wall, providing another play area for the birds.
A dome ceiling in the exhibit was also removed, adding 16 feet of vertical space. That allowed the aquarium to add the Inca terns, birds usually found on the coasts of Peru and Chile.
"These guys are high energy," Urban said. "They love to fly, they will fly down and take fish out of the water and make a lot of noise."
Because the aquarium keeps the penguins and terns on their native southern hemisphere cycle, the lights in the exhibit go off about 4 p.m. in the summer. In the old exhibit, that left visitors unable to see the birds. In the new exhibit, a night-time lighting cycle based on the southern hemisphere's version of northern lights will allow the birds to be seen at "night."
Aquarium officials plan to allow the penguins to get acquainted to their new home for a while before opening the exhibit to the public.
The first residents will be two chicks and their parents, including the aquarium's first chinstrap chick. Once they are acclimated, the other birds will follow.
"When we first bring them in here, they are going to hit the pool," Urban said, "because even though we have provided them with a really nice pool in their temporary holding, they are going to go straight to the pool."

Source

St Kilda penguin protection a happy feat for carers

28 Feb, 2011 11:18 AM
 
THE patter of little penguin feet fascinates the volunteers and Earthcare members who are celebrating 25 years of research and care in St Kilda.Twice a month Earthcare catches little penguins to scan microchips implanted under their skin.
While today's technology hasn't been around for all the group's 25 years, the penguin population has been monitored the entire time.
"We can track where they've been, who they've been with, if they have any eggs or chicks and we know how old they are," said Tiana Preston, who recently completed a PhD on St Kilda's little penguin colony.
"We also remove any fishing line or rubbish they may have been caught up in. We normally find about 12 penguins a year who have fishing line wrapped around them. That doesn't sound like a lot but it really isn't good for them."
The group says about 1000 little penguins swim to the St Kilda breakwater each night. Ms Preston said the animals usually spent their days around the Port of Hastings.
The 2011 Melbourne Penguin Symposium will be held on Sunday, March 6 from 11am at the South Melbourne Community Centre and is a chance to learn more about the little penguins around St Kilda.
Presenters from Earthcare St Kilda, Phillip Island Nature Parks, Monash University and Deakin University will detail their latest findings from Victoria and South Australia.
Local wildlife carer Mandy Hall will explain what's involved in rehabilitating injured penguins, and cartoonist Alex Hallatt who draws the Arctic Circle cartoon series, will share her experiences of drawing penguins for a worldwide audience.
For more information, or to RSVP for the symposium, contact Earthcare at earthcarestkilda@gmail.com

Source 

Idaho zoo penguins heading for Texas

Idaho zoo penguins heading for Texas

February 27, 2011 at 11:22 a.m.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) - Two black-footed penguins from the Tautphaus Park Zoo in Idaho Falls are heading south.
Primary penguin keeper Amy Vargas says the penguins are going to the Dallas Zoo on Tuesday to bolster that zoo's population and become part of an education and outreach program.
Vargas tells the Post Register that zoo workers and volunteers have worked with the birds to make sure they are comfortable around people.
The zoo will still have 20 penguins after the two depart.

Source

Image of the Day


DSC_0140
Originally uploaded by anne.mchugh
Snare's Crested Penguin

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Image of the Day


Adelies Kissing
Originally uploaded by Mooflickery
*smoooch*

OMG - the PENGUIN PENNY!

OMG - the PENGUIN PENNY!

Link: http://www.hitandrunhistory.com

Penguin PennyThat cute little coin to the left is the Falkland Islands Penguin Penny. It features mother and father Gentoo penguins watching over the nest of their little egg.
That's pretty adorable. And you can have one. Easy.
See, we're heading down there to film and we could pick you up one. All you need to do to get yours is go to Hit and Run History on Kickstarter and make ANY pledge. As low as one dollar.
That's right -- you can have a penguin for buck.
Check online and you'll find these going on ebay for three times that. So it definitely has value. But c'mon -- it's a freakin' Penguin Penny! You're not going to sell it. You'll keep in your pocket, pull it out at parties as a conversation piece, or give it to your kids and be a hero.
If you've already made a pledge, surprise! You're going to get one of these in addition to whatever reward you've chosen already. Just another way we say thanks to those who are helping us reach our goal.
We'd even be happy to give you one for every dollar you pledge, up to $50. So five penguins for a $5 pledge, or a roll of 50 for a pledge of $50 and beyond. This is in addition to any rewards currently posted.
Gentoo Penguin photo by Jerzy Strzelecki
If you have kids, or know anyone with kids, this is a really fun idea. Or even for the kid in you.
Just head over to Hit and Run History on Kickstarter and click on "BACK THIS PROJECT." We'd even be happy to give you one penguin for every dollar you pledge, up to $50. So five penguins for a $5 pledge, or a roll of 50 for a pledge of $50 and beyond. This is in addition to any rewards currently posted. Just let us know.
If you have kids, or know anyone with kids, this is a really fun idea. Or even for the kid in you.

Photo by Jerzy Strzelecki, and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license

Source 

Tampa Bay welcomes new addition



Zoo aviary care manager Julie Tomita cradles the chick prior to a routine weight check. (Lowry Park Zoo photo)


The baby chick on the scale for a weight check: 451 grams on day 12. (Lowry Park Zoo photo)
baby penguin_20110225135207_JPG
The baby chick on the scale for a weight check: 451 grams on day 12. (Lowry Park Zoo photo)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First baby penguin hatches at zoo


Published : Friday, 25 Feb 2011

TAMPA - The first baby of the year has arrived at Lowry Park Zoo, and it also happens to be the first successful penguin hatchling in the zoo’s history.
The only catch? Zookeepers don't know yet if it's a boy or a girl.
The as-yet-unnamed chick was born two weeks ago to parent penguins Thumbelina and Flannigan. Zoo officials say the parents are very attentive and sharing in the brooding responsibilities.
When the baby hatched, it weighed just 57 grams. It has since grown to 565 grams (or 1.2 pounds). African penguins grow to approximately two feet tall and generally weigh from 6½ to 10 pounds.
It is anticipated the new chick will remain with the parents for the time being, then be transitioned to zookeeper care to facilitate independence and learning to swim, before ultimately joining the colony on exhibit in several months. Once on exhibit, it will be easy to spot with its dark gray juvenile plumage for about a year.

Source

This Week's Pencognito!

http://pengcognito.com/pengtoons/poledance-1.jpghttp://pengcognito.com/pengtoons/poledance-2.jpghttp://pengcognito.com/pengtoons/poledance-3.jpghttp://pengcognito.com/pengtoons/poledance-4.jpg
Be sure to visit Jen and all the pengies here!!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

S. Rockhopper Gains Protection from Salazar

Southern rockhopper penguins
Photo: mbz1 GNU Free lic.
  • February 23rd, 2011 8:58 pm ET
  • Jean Williams
  • Environmental Policy Examiner
As a result of pressure from the environmental organizations, Center for Biological Diversity and Turtle Island Restoration Network, the Interior Department announced on Tuesday that New Zealand-Australia populations of southern rockhopper penguin would finally get listed as a “threatened” species for protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The listing followed a legal settlement with the two organizations.
Although it is not an “endangered” listing, it will increase funding for research and conservation and additional oversight to federal activities that could result in harm to the existing rockhopper population.
“These hardy penguins survive on remote, stormy, sub-Antarctic islands in the Southern Ocean, practically at the edge of the world, and yet they may not survive climate change,” said Catherine Kilduff, an attorney at the Center, which first petitioned to protect the rockhoppers and 11 other penguin species in 2006. “Endangered Species Act protections can begin to address this threat.”
According to the Center for Biological Diversity press release, Rockhopper penguins, named for the way they hop from boulder to boulder, are widespread — breeding on islands off South America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand — but the penguins listed today have declined by more than 90 percent since the early 1940s. Changes to the marine environment, such as increases in sea-surface temperatures and reduced prey availability, are the primary threat to these colonies.
“These penguins have adapted to an inhospitable environment over hundreds of years, but the combination of ocean warming and commercial fishing may prove to be too much,” said Todd Steiner, biologist and executive director of TIRN. “Through this listing, the government is acknowledging that our oceans are sick and taking a first step to protect penguins and their watery world.”
The Center predicts that by mid-century, if greenhouse gas emissions remain on their current trajectory, climate change will commit one-third of the world’s animal and plant species to extinction. The threatened southern rockhopper penguin joins six other recently protected penguins: the African penguin, the Humboldt penguin of Chile and Peru and four other New Zealand penguins (the yellow-eyed, white-flippered, Fiordland crested and erect-crested).
Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar has a dismal record on listing species for ESA protection and rarely does so, without pressure from conservation groups.
More information on the plight of the penguins

Image of the Day

Rare moment caught when a parent returns to the chicks.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Image of the Day


Fairy Penguin
Originally uploaded by Flash 61

Little Rock Penguin News

The Penguins are Coming March 5

Monday February 21, 2011
If you haven't heard, the Little Rock Zoo is opening a fun new exhibit the first weekend in March: Laura P. Nichols Penguin Pointe.  Some of you probably met one of the penguins, Laura, in the zoo's last few stage shows last summer.   The real exhibit opens March 5.
 

The zoo was testing the water and making sure the penguins were comfortable last weekend and, because I volunteer there as a docent, I got to take a sneak peek.

The finished exhibit is probably the nicest looking exhibit at the zoo.  It's state of the art, with great graphics and a fun design.  My favorite graphic was actual size cutouts of other penguin species so you can compare their sizes.  A common thing people say when they see this species of penguin is, "I thought penguins were bigger."  It's fun to compare their size to the massive emperor penguins and the tiny fairy penguins.  Plus, your kids can see how they stack up to a penguin.

Little Rock Zoo's penguins are  African penguins, a warm weather variety.  They are about the middle of the penguin size gamut, measuring about 27 inches tall.   The new exhibit allows visitors to see the penguins playing under water, but also has some above water viewing so you can see them on land.  It's meant to mimic Boulders Beach near Cape  Town in Africa, where the penguins are found in the wild.

There are only about 120,000 African penguins left in the wild and the species is listed as "endangered" on the IUCN Red List.
If you have time on March 5, or anytime after that, go meet Little Rock's newest attraction.  They are very personable and lots of fun to watch.   The zoo has some special events going on March 5, and March 4 is the member's only preview.  That's a perfect excuse to become a member.

Source 

Southern Rockhopper Penguins Listed as Threatened Species; Climate Change Protections Needed




For Immediate Release, February 22, 2011


Contacts:  Catherine Kilduff, Center for Biological Diversity, (415) 644-8580
Todd Steiner/Teri Shore, Turtle Island Restoration Network, (415) 663-8590 x 103/104

Southern Rockhopper Penguins Listed as Threatened Species; Climate Change Protections Needed

Rockhopper penguin
Southern rockhopper penguin photo © Larry Master/ MasterImages.org. More images are available here.
SAN FRANCISCO— The Interior Department announced today that the New Zealand-Australia populations of the southern rockhopper penguin, among the world’s smallest penguins, will be listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The listing will raise awareness of the rockhoppers’ plight, increase research and conservation funds, and offer added oversight of U.S.-government-approved activities that could hurt the birds. It follows a legal settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity and Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN) over delays in protecting the penguin.

“These hardy penguins survive on remote, stormy, sub-Antarctic islands in the Southern Ocean, practically at the edge of the world, and yet they may not survive climate change,” said Catherine Kilduff, an attorney at the Center, which first petitioned to protect the rockhoppers and 11 other penguin species in 2006. “Endangered Species Act protections can begin to address this threat.”

“These penguins have adapted to an inhospitable environment over hundreds of years, but the combination of ocean warming and commercial fishing may prove to be too much,” said Todd Steiner, biologist and executive director of TIRN. “Through this listing, the government is acknowledging that our oceans are sick and taking a first step to protect penguins and their watery world.”

By mid-century, if greenhouse gas emissions remain on their current trajectory, climate change will commit one-third of the world’s animal and plant species to extinction. The threatened southern rockhopper penguin joins six other recently protected penguins: the African penguin, the Humboldt penguin of Chile and Peru and four other New Zealand penguins (the yellow-eyed, white-flippered, Fiordland crested and erect-crested).
Rockhopper penguins, named for the way they hop from boulder to boulder, are widespread — breeding on islands off South America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand — but the penguins listed today have declined by more than 90 percent since the early 1940s. Changes to the marine environment, such as increases in sea-surface temperatures and reduced prey availability, are the primary threat to these colonies.

The threatened penguins breed on Macquarie, Campbell, Auckland and Antipodes islands, which are ecologically and geographically unique as well as historically high-quality habitat. The Campbell Island southern rockhopper population was once one of the largest in the world, but has experienced the most severe declines.

For more information on penguins, please see: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/birds/penguins/index.html.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 320,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN) is an environmental organization working to protect and restore endangered marine species and the marine environment on which we all depend. Headquartered in California, with offices in Texas and Costa Rica, TIRN is dedicated to swift and decisive action to protect and restore marine species and their habitats and to inspire people in communities all over the world to join us as active and vocal marine species advocates. For more information, visit www.SeaTurtles.org and www.TIRN.net.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Newport Aquarium's Popular Cold Penguin Exhibit to Reopen as Penguin Palooza

Wed, 2/16/2011 - 4:25 PM
By Rodger Pille
Newport, Ky. –- It’s a penguin party at Newport Aquarium, and everyone is invited.
Newport Aquarium announced today that the popular cold penguin exhibit, which has been closed since early January, will host its grand re-opening on March 26 with a new name – Penguin Palooza – and with two new species, a new habitat for the birds and new interactive opportunities for guests.
“We set out to make one of our guests’ favorite areas and one of the country’s best penguin displays even better,” said Ric Urban, curator of birds and mammals for Newport Aquarium. “With construction almost complete, I think it’s safe to say we hit a homerun. This is going to be a fun exhibit.”
Among its many new features, the Penguin Palooza exhibit – sponsored by Kroger - will host two new species: the Rockhopper penguin and the Inca Tern bird.
Six Rockhopper penguins will join the Aquarium’s 28 King, Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins already home to the cold penguin exhibit, making this display one of the most diverse penguin collections in the country. Rockhoppers are among the smallest of the world's penguins, having an average length of around 20 inches, and an average weight of about 6.5 pounds. Rockhoppers are distinguishable from other penguin species due to their unusual color and cresting. A yellow stripe above each eye projects into a yellow crest, and these are joined behind the head by a black occipital crest. Their eyes are red, the short bulbous bill is reddish brown, and the feet and legs are pink. A recent large-scale decline in the Rockhopper population in the wild has caused the species to be placed on the globally threatened list.
Also new to the exhibit will be, for the first time, flying birds. Six Inca Terns will join the penguins in the refurbished space. This uniquely-plumaged bird, usually found on the coasts of Peru and Chile, can be identified by its dark grey body, white moustache on the both sides of its head, and red-orange beak and feet.
“When we removed the dome ceiling in the exhibit space, we reclaimed 16 feet of vertical space,” Urban said. “It allowed us to add flying birds to the display, making it the most realistic natural environment for the animals we could imagine.”
In addition to expanding the exhibit space vertically, Aquarium biologists worked with rock-formation experts to redesign the interior of the display to create a more dynamic, interesting habitat for the animals. The additional “steps” in the rock formation also provides more nesting opportunities for the birds and more paths for the penguins to explore in the new display.
But the penguins aren’t the only ones who will notice big changes in the exhibit.
There’s a new, expanded seating area for Aquarium guests to sit and watch the penguins play and swim. Reconfiguration in the space moved the viewing area closer to the action (kids can now stand right next to where the penguins swim!), widened the seating benches and added an extra row so more people could enjoy the penguins on the Aquarium’s busiest days.
The Aquarium also utilized adjacent, unused, behind-the-scenes space to more than double the footprint of the guest side of the exhibit. Included in that new space will be the Penguin Playground, featuring: interactive activities for kids, a map of penguin habitats world-wide, “fast fact” graphical displays as well as fun photo opportunities for families with three-dimensional penguin models.
The opening of the exhibit will also signal the launch of the Aquarium’s newest live show. Taking place in the Penguin Palooza exhibit space, the show will feature an Aquarium presenter who will entertain guests with penguin facts and interact with several animated penguin characters on a new high definition video board, all made exclusively for the Aquarium’s Penguin Palooza exhibit. The Aquarium’s web site will list show times for each day once the exhibit is open so that guests can plan their visit accordingly.
Also new in the exhibit is a state-of-the-art LED lighting grid that greatly conserves energy. Urban noted that the penguins will be kept on their natural southern hemisphere lighting cycle in the exhibit. The Aquarium’s summer is the penguins’ winter and vice versa. In the old exhibit, that meant turning the lights off as early as 4 p.m. during the summer. But with the new lighting system, Urban said, they designed a new, night-time lighting cycle modeled after Aurora australis – the southern hemisphere’s version of northern lights - that will allow the penguins to be seen at night.
“The night time lighting is something we really think our late afternoon Aquarium guests and special events and wedding guests will love,” Urban said.
The exhibit will still be kept at 34-degrees and feature an 8,000-gallon salt-water tank in which the penguins can swim. It will also continue to snow in the exhibit – thanks to an artificial snow machine – during the penguin’s winter. The penguin exhibit was one of Newport Aquarium’s original exhibit areas when it opened to the public in 1999 and is one of the most popular exhibits in the Aquarium. This is the exhibit’s first major renovation since opening.
Behind-the-scenes construction has been underway since late September. Full construction on the exhibit began in early January 2011. The penguins have been housed in an off-site facility since the exhibit was closed to the public.
The all-new Penguin Palooza exhibit isn’t the only way to enjoy penguins at the Aquarium. The new exhibit joins the popular Penguin Encounters and the daily Penguin Parade events, both of which feature warm-weather African penguins, as the Aquarium’s world-class penguin offerings.
“If you love penguins, there’s no better place to visit than Newport Aquarium,” Urban said.
Penguin Encounters, offered five times daily, are an unprecedented way to experience penguin life up close and personal. For a nominal surcharge, guests can go behind-the-scenes with an Aquarium biologist and spend time with the African penguins in their own habitat. Guests will get to touch the penguins and get plenty of photos of this memorable experience.
The Penguin Parade is the Aquarium’s unique way to start each day and features Randy, Paula, Simon or any of the other African penguins at the Aquarium. The penguins arrive in their custom-made parade float amidst a ton of fun and fanfare. A biologist who cares for them will share interesting facts about penguins and conservation. And each day, one lucky child will be randomly chosen to be the Parade's Grand Marshall. The parades are free and happen in the Aquarium lobby or on the Newport on the Levee plaza on days when the weather allows for it.
For more information on Newport Aquarium, including hours and pricing, visit www.newportaquarium.com or call (859) 261-7444.
Newport Aquarium showcases thousands of animals from around the world in a million gallons of water. You’ll be amazed at all there is to see and do, including fun and interactive activities, like touching a shark or meeting penguins. Newport Aquarium is a Herschend Family Entertainment company (www.hfecorp.com) and a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), a leader in global wildlife conservation. Newport Aquarium is open to the public 365 days a year and is located only two minutes from downtown Cincinnati at Newport on the Levee.
To view Newport Aquarium's web page on Zoo and Aquarium Visitor, go to:  http://www.zandavisitor.com/forumtopicdetail-413-Newport_Aquarium

Source 

Warming sends chill down penguins' spines


Up to 75% of the Antarctic Adelie penguin population could be lost if predicted temperature increases from climate change occur within the next 40 years. Photo supplied.

"For this region, we're looking at a 2degC increase in the troposphere occurring around 2025-50," Dr Phil Lyver, of Landcare Research, said from Scott Base.
"With those environmental conditions those birds are going to see, we are looking at losing potentially 70% of our Adelie penguin colonies north of 70deg south, and that's basically a 75% loss of the entire population of Adelie penguins in Antarctica."
The temperature increase would cause melting of the sea ice on which both Adelie and emperor penguins depended for foraging for krill and fish.
While this might lead to a drastic decrease in the 10 million-bird Adelie population, it might be a death knell for the emperor penguins, Dr Lyver said.
"There's going to be some real limitations placed on the birds by that whole loss of sea ice, and by what we're seeing on the Antarctic Peninsula region, emperor penguins are facing a similar future," he said.
"Some of the research modelling estimates that they [emperors] may be functionally extinct by the end of the century."
Dr Lyver said the birds would also have to contend with increasing human pressures from fisheries and tourism, and in certain regions, diseases from the influx of other species such as chinstrap and Gentoo penguins.
In order to keep tabs on Adelie population trends, Dr Lyver's team of penguin researchers monitor the birds annually, both on the ground and by a low-flying C-130 Hercules census flight to New Zealand, dubbed "the vomit comet".
Completed every two years since 1981, the flight is used to undertake an aerial census of Adelie breeding pairs in the Ross Sea region, but because of ongoing technical and weather issues, only four sites were photographed when the December flight finally departed.
"We only managed to over-fly four penguin colonies, which represents about 20% of the Victoria Land population," Dr Lyver said.
"Unfortunately, at Wood Bay, west of Cape Washington, we ran into the tail end of the storm that had covered Scott Base in the earlier few days."
Photos from the four sites surveyed were analysed using computer programs, a process that, until recently, involved counting by hand the penguins on enlarged photos.
Unfortunately for penguins and penguin-lovers alike, Dr Lyver said the results did not bode well for a good breeding season.
"The colonies of Franklin Island, Inexpressible Island and Terra Nova appeared to be quite snow covered, which meant the penguins would have struggled to find their nesting sites and stones to build their nests this year at those sites."
Populations dipped in 2000 when a 200km-by-50km iceberg grounded offshore from the Cape Royds colony, preventing access to open water and so depriving the colony of food supplies.
Aside from this, populations have been increasing since the 1990s; but for the penguins of the Ross Sea, only time will tell.

Source

Image of the Day

Brendan van Son is a Travel Writer and Photographer from Alberta, Canada. To see more of his work check out “Brendan’s Adventures” on his blog which is filled with travel articles, travel photography, and more.  You can also follow Brendan on twitter @brendanvanson and like his fan page for updates on Facebook.

Source 

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Baby penguin hatched at the Milwaukee Co. Zoo

Checkup of penguin chick

Weighing the penguin chick, 93 grams

Dad (Oscar) feeding the penguin chick

Dad (Oscar) feeding the penguin chick

Dad (Oscar) with the penguin chick

Dad (Oscar) with the penguin chick

All images by Catherine Poggenburg, Milwaukee Co. Zoo / February 14, 2011


 

Sandy the penguin finds love among her own kind

Photo: DPASandy, right, followed closely by her new love Hermann. Photo: DPA

After living the romantic wild life by swooning for males of different ages and species, Sandy the penguin has found love again. But is the bird with unusual taste in boyfriends finally ready to settle down?
Published: 14 Feb 11 
Sandy, an independent penguin if there ever was one, has eaten sumptuously from the smorgasbord of love, and never let convention or public sanction determine which dishes she tastes.

Her history of serial monogamy includes everything from cross-species relationships to a stint as a "cougar" mom and now to what appears to be domestic bliss with Hermann, an older penguin who might have finally tamed the 14-year-old seductress.

Sandy found love early in life. She fell hard for a human at the age of two when she laid eyes on Peter Vollbracht, a much older zookeeper. For the next ten years, she was almost constantly at his side, behaving in some very un-penguin-like ways.

For example, she allowed people to pet her without hacking at them with her sharp beak. Sandy also seemed to accept the built-in limitations to their relationship, including the fact that Vollbracht already had a human family.

But love can be fickle. When illness kept Peter away from the zoo for six weeks, Sandy’s eye began to wander and soon it landed upon someone of her own genus, Tom. Although he was much younger, Sandy moved in for the kill – soon the couple had been blessed with two chicks.

Her happiness was sadly fleeting, however, and when a bacterial infection took Tom to an early grave, Sandy found herself on her own with two kids. Single motherhood was not to her liking; the babes were fostered out.

Not one to stay home by the phone on a Saturday night, Sandy soon returned to her first love, zookeeper Vollbracht, lavishing him with affection and delighting the crowds at the zoo again with her displays of love.

“She was looking for someone, and I was there,” Vollbracht told the magazine Der Spiegel back in 2009.

But that was then, this is now. Sandy has found happiness among her own kind again, this time with the older and wiser penguin, Hermann. The couple is busy these days gathering twigs for the nest they’re building together.

While Sandy has moved on, she hasn’t forgotten Vollbracht or her many years with him. She still likes people in general and when Peter talks, she listens.

“But when mating season starts, she’ll only have eyes for Hermann,” said zoo spokesperson Ilona Zühlke.

Zoo staff hope that this love affair is the real thing and that Sandy won’t find her attention wandering when some new young thing joins the enclosure and that Hermann won’t shuffle off this mortal coil just yet.

“Up to now, she’s hasn’t really had that much luck with men,” said Zühlke.

The Local/DPA/kdj
 

Image of the Day


Yellow-eyed penguin
Originally uploaded by Koen BL

African Penguins at the California A.O.S. Steinhart Aquarium Received a Special V Day Treat

Tue, 2/15/2011 - 7:13 AM
By Helen Taylor

San Francisco, CA - The African Penguins at the California Academy of Sciences received a special treat on Valentine’s Day – a batch of hand-made valentines to use as nesting material. Academy staff and visitors decorated more than 100 heart-shaped valentines with messages and illustrations, which a biologist began distributing to the birds after their morning feeding. A short video clip is available on the Academy’s Facebook profile at http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100295734397716&oid=19356432310&comments , and the penguins are always on view through the penguin cams at http://www.calacademy.org/webcams/penguins/.

African Penguins normally make nests by burrowing, then collecting any available material to line the bottom of the nest with. In the wild, this could include leaves, sticks, rocks and potentially any novel object the males can pick up with their beaks. The valentines offered during the week of Valentine’s Day are novel to the birds, and often solidify the permanent bonds that the couples make. The hearts are primarily collected by the males and offered to the females or placed into the nests in order to encourage the females to breed.
Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences participates in the American Zoo and Aquarium Association’s Species Survival Program for African Penguins (Spheniscus demersus), aimed at conserving this species in the wild. 108 chicks have hatched out at the Academy since 1983, as part of the institution’s involvement in the program.


To view Steinhart Aquarium's web page on Zoo and Aquarium Visitor, go to: http://www.zandavisitor.com/forumtopicdetail-92-Steinhart_Aquarium

Source 

Beached penguins sent by Brazil to US

Beached penguins sent by Brazil to US AFP/File – Magellanic penguins swim off the coast of Santos, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Brazilian scientists have sent a …

RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) – Brazilian scientists have sent a group of around 20 penguins rescued from beaches near Rio de Janeiro last year to the United States for an aquarium exhibition on climate change.
"They arrived in good condition Saturday night in Los Angeles," said Giselda Candiotto, director of the Niteroi zoo, which had been caring for the Magellanic penguins.
She said they would be kept in quarantine in Los Angeles before being sent to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium in California.
The birds sent to California were the survivors from hundreds that washed up on Brazil's shore after a long migration from the waters off Argentina's southern Patagonia region.
Scientists said the penguins, which follow schools of fish, have been migrating further north in recent years, possibly due to climate change. But the longer journey wears on the penguins and they have become thinner and their population has been declining.
Brazilian environmental authorities began a study last year on the changing migration patterns of the penguins.

Source

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

True love birds

N.E. Aquarium plays matchmaker to stave off penguin extinction

By David Filipov Globe Staff / February 13, 2011

For the lovelorn, Ichaboe and Spheniscus are a couple to envy.
When they reunite after even a short time apart, they call out to each other. They bow in greeting. They slap bills tenderly. She is lovely, her plumage a riot of white and black, her sole adornment an identification band of purple and white tastefully wrapped around her rubbery right wing. He is strapping and bold.
The two African penguins have been together a year, and the glow has yet to fade. They were so enthralled with each other one morning last week that they paid no attention to the New England Aquarium biologists watching the couple’s displays of affection atop Island 2 of the penguin exhibit.
The scientists are more than mere voyeurs. They are trying to save a species that researchers predict will be extinct in the wild in 15 years.
It is not only important that these penguins mate, but that they mate with the right partner, to maintain as diverse a gene pool as possible in captivity.
To ensure that, the aquarium biologists become the matchmakers, arranging marriages between pairs most likely to succeed and snuffing out romances that are not meant to be.
This means they must constantly monitor the love lives of their 10 breeding couples, which the aquarium says is one of the country’s largest collections in captivity.
“We can keep the species alive by making love happen,’’ said Caitlin Hume, whose official title is senior penguin biologist, though it could also be Cupid-in-chief.
Not long after she said this, a young female climbed onto Island 2 and noticed Ichaboe. The female dropped her head to the side and puffed her cheeks and waited for the male to respond. The intruder got so close they touched. Spheniscus turned on the upstart and brayed in protest. But what about her man? Would he stand by her?
Ichaboe rose to his full 2 feet and joined his bride to bray his disapproval. The interloper was rebuffed. This time.
Penguins enjoy a reputation as nature’s model of monogamous devotion, adorable creatures willing to waddle endlessly across the barren expanses of Antarctica on behalf of their mates and chicks. Ain’t no ice sheet cold enough to stop ‘em.
But African penguins are a different sort of bird. They live off the coast of South Africa and Namibia, nowhere near the South Pole. They might choose mates for life, but they might also cheat if their partners show up late during mating season. They might dump a partner if they just don’t like the match.
“There are some breakups in the penguin world as well; that way they are a little like people,’’ Hume said, wading with penguins in the salty waters of the exhibit last week.
African penguins, also known as beach donkeys for their bray-like call, used to be abundant. In 1956, researchers counted 147,000 pairs of African penguins, Hume said. In 2008, only 28,000 of the species were found.
The culprits seem to be overfishing and changes in ocean currents; the schooling fish that African penguins fancy are farther out to sea. The chicks are completely dependent for their first three months, so the adults take turns hunting.
Nowadays, adults need to travel twice as far to bring back food. The chicks and the adults left behind are going longer without sustenance.
None of these obstacles exist in the friendly confines of the aquarium, where the 54 African penguins are fed a steady diet of ocean smelt, sardines, capelin, and herring. The islands are scrubbed clean every day. The 150,000 gallons of Boston Harbor water are constantly filtered.
The staff tries to match penguins that are least likely to be related. The easiest way to do this would be to find mates that do not have a long history in captivity and that bring some new genes to the penguin pool.
But because of their diminished numbers, the aquarium no longer removes African penguins from the wild, and ensuring genetic diversity is becoming increasingly challenging.
Once a match has been approved, the couple is moved to a more intimate setting downstairs. “Candlelight and romance,’’ Hume calls it. If the penguins hit it off — and they usually do, according to staffers — that is where they hatch and raise chicks.
But sometimes, penguins go looking for love in all the wrong places. Hume pointed out Plum Pudding and In-Guza, two African penguins who were preening on Island 3. They got together on their own, but because their genes are bad for breeding, the aquarium did not let their eggs hatch.
“Sometimes we take a pair that found each other and we have to separate them,’’ Hume said.
And sometimes when one door closes, another opens.
It happened to Harlequin, an 18-year-old female, and Durban, a 16-year-old male, who were on the rebound when they met 11 years ago; the staff had separated them from their original mates. In what should have been their sunset years, they have instead become the most prolific of the aquarium’s African penguin couples, having raised six chicks in three breeding seasons.
As Hume passed, Durban sidled up to Harlequin and bowed, penguin-ese for “I’m so glad that I found you.’’
African penguins normally live 10 to 15 years and are ready to breed by the time they are 4 — Spheniscus’s age. Ichaboe is 5.
And then there is Alfred, who is 36. The old-timer has good genes, so the aquarium put him together with 9-year-old Treasure.
There was some doubt whether she would go for the older bird, but she did.
Then again, the quarter-century age difference has worked for Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Why not Alfred and Treasure?
“He’s a lucky guy,’’ said biologist Andrea Desjardins. “They’re a very good couple.’’

Source 

Image of the Day


Magellanic Penguin
Originally uploaded by Tim G