#Penguin of the Day

 

Northern Rockhopper Penguin by Gustavo Naharro

#Penguins of the Day

 

Magellanic Penguins, Falklands by Richard McManus

#Penguins of the Day

 

Preening Magellanic Penguins by Leeds Medic

Spheniscus magellanicus - Peninsula Valdes

 

Magellanic penguin by hjkwantstoknow

National Aviary Hosts Online Auction To Name #Penguin Chick

February 26, 2015

(Photo Credit: Lori Sperling/ KDKA)

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – It’s a girl! And you can pay to name her.

That’s right, the National Aviary is hosting an online auction for the chance to name its female penguin chick that hatched in December.

You can bid on eBay — but the starting bit is $1,000. You can also scoop everyone and secure your chance my shelling out $20,000.

“We’ve had a lot of fun with online auctions in the past. Auction winners have named penguins after loved ones or gifted the rights to name the penguin to a family member. It’s a meaningful experience, and the money raised helps both African Penguins and other endangered species at the National Aviary through our conservation and breeding programs,” says National Aviary Managing Director Cheryl Tracy.

Two penguin chicks actually hatched in December. A boy penguin chick hatched a few days later after the girl. And although both were fuzzy and adorable a few months ago, they’re both just about full grown.

The auction runs until March 6.

You can bid here on eBay.

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Behind-the-scenes #penguin portraits @stlzoo (video)

Welcome back! @stlzoo 's #penguins are ready to see you again

By Gail Pennington
February 26, 2015


Gentoo penguins stand at the Penguin & Puffin Coast exhibit on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 at the St. Louis Zoo. The exhibit has been closed to the public for construction of a neighboring polar bear area. Photo by Huy Mach, hmach@post-dispatch.com

The excitement was palpable one recent morning among the St. Louis Zoo’s penguins. The stately kings paced anxiously, always keeping close to their partners (and nests). The slightly smaller gentoos waddled back and forth, occasionally letting out a trumpeting squawk. The little rockhoppers, with their punk hairdos, bounced around like wind-up toys.

Were they excited because the zoo’s Penguin & Puffin Coast was about to reopen after 18 months? Not really. The excitement had to do with the fact that breakfast was coming.

To mark the return of Penguin & Puffin Coast, which reopens March 5 with a penguin parade, the zoo let me play penguin keeper for a morning. I was game even after learning that my first job would be pushing pills into dead fish, and that I would do it while wearing wading boots and rubber overalls called “yellows.”

Woody, a 5-year-old rockhopper penguin, poses for a photo on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 at the St. Louis Zoo. She was raised at the zoo at the rockhopper side of the exhibit. Her parents took care of her for a few weeks after she was hatched before the keepers hand fed her. Photo by Huy Mach, hmach@post-dispatch.com

Samantha Griffin, an actual penguin keeper, led the way. Thoughtfully, she had saved some fish for me to stuff with vitamin pills, including vitamin E to supplement what’s lost when fish is frozen. Griffin, by the way, doesn’t eat fish, but she insists that has nothing to do with her job.

I turned out to be a natural at pilling fish, if I do say so myself. The vitamins, about the size of half an adult multi, go into a gill, not down the gullet, and the only trick is not breaking through the body of the fish.

The pill-stuffed fish are piled in a bowl to be hand-fed to the penguins, to make sure everybody gets one.

Tarzan, a 4-year-old king penguin, poses for a photo on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 at the St. Louis Zoo. Tarzan was raised at the zoo. His parents laid their egg and he was hatched on exhibit. He is one of the penguins that go on the winter walks. Photo by Huy Mach, hmach@post-dispatch.com

The rest of the birds’ breakfast (they are also fed supper) is served on trays, with two daily meals of capelin, a sustainable Atlantic fish that’s the mainstay of their diet, and smelt. “It’s close to what they get in the wild,” Griffin said.

The puffins, being smaller, get a mixture of herring, squid and krill, weighed and chopped. This is as gross as penguin-feeding gets, but it goes quickly. So does loading the trays for the penguins, with a layer of crushed ice, then both kinds of fish, and then more ice. The habitat is kept at a chilly 45 degrees, but the penguins like to snack all day, so the ice keeps the fish extra fresh.

Iris, a 16-year-old king penguin, poses for a photo on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 at the St. Louis Zoo. She was brought to the zoo from Moody Gardens in Texas and has been the mother of several chicks. One penguin keeper describes her as "a great mom." Photo by Huy Mach, hmach@post-dispatch.com

The trays fill a heavy cart, and then it’s up an elevator to the back door of Penguin Cove, on the opposite side from where visitors will again get to watch the penguins beginning next week.
The most dangerous part of a penguin keeper’s job, it seemed to me, is navigating the wet rocks on which the birds hang out. Tumbling into the penguin pool would have been awkward and most likely painful, so I tended to stand back and let the penguins come to me for their vitamin-stuffed fish.

Some were eager; others, suspicious. Penguins have personalities, and they know their keepers; despite my yellows, I was a stranger. One older gentoo with bad eyesight wanted her smelt held a particular way, and I failed. A voracious younger one kept trying to trick me into feeding him twice.
The beautiful, stately kings, grouped together at the far end of the habitat, by their nests, hung back, and only one eventually approached close enough to take a fish from me. Griffin, more familiar to them, took over the job.

Trouble, a 12-year-old gentoo penguin, poses for a photo on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 at the St. Louis Zoo. Trouble was brought to the zoo from SeaWorld in 2003. She's described as an affection bird but often gets into trouble by jumping over the exhibit glass and onto the public space. Photo by Huy Mach, hmach@post-dispatch.com

Then we returned for the trays, each of which slips into a holder for a shared meal. The only trick here was keeping Woody, a little rockhopper that was hand-raised, from waddling out to explore every time the gate was opened. Pretty soon, I was considering taking Woody home with me.

Successfully completing my feeding duty, I got to walk around to the other side of Penguin Cove to see what visitors see, including an underwater view of penguins as they swim. Penguin Cove is modeled after the coastal cliffs of the island of South Georgia, a British territory in the southern Atlantic that many species of penguins call home.

Those weird sounds? They are meant to mimic the ocean and other sounds that would be heard in the natural habitat.

Darcie, a 31-year-old gentoo penguin, poses for a photo on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 at the St. Louis Zoo. She was brought to the zoo from SeaWorld in 2003. As a keeper describes, Darcy is on the upper age of longevity for gentoos, but "she's a perfectly healthy bird." Photo by Huy Mach, hmach@post-dispatch.com

Around the corner from Penguin Cove is Puffin Bay, where horned puffins and tufted puffins were just beginning to develop their bright breeding colors. Nooks in the cliff wall lead to nests where the puffins will lay their eggs. And that thing that’s not a puffin? It’s the survivor of a pair of king eiders, a dramatic looking duck.

Penguin & Puffin Coast, which opened in 2003, is also home to endangered Humboldt penguins, which returned to their outdoor habitat in October. The indoor exhibits were closed for safety reasons during construction of Polar Bear Point next door, due to open this summer.

Maybe you won’t get to stuff pills into dead fish, but if you want to get up close and personal with penguins, one of the zoo’s popular behind-the-scenes tours lets you mingle with a couple of them. If you go, tell them I said hello.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Gail Pennington feeds penguins for a story about the reopening of the Penguin & Puffin Coast exhibit on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 at the St. Louis Zoo. The exhibit has been closed to the public for construction of a neighboring polar bear area. Photo by Huy Mach, hmach@post-dispatch.com

---

What Penguin & Puffin Coast reopening • When Parade of king and gentoo penguins is at 10:30 a.m. March 5; zoo hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily • Where St. Louis Zoo, Forest Park • How much Free • More info stlzoo.org

Tarzan, a 4-year-old king penguin, poses for a photo on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 at the St. Louis Zoo. Tarzan was raised at the zoo. His parents laid their egg and he was hatched on exhibit. He is one of the penguins that go on the winter walks. Photo by Huy Mach, hmach@post-dispatch.com

Penguins stand at the Penguin & Puffin Coast exhibit on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 at the St. Louis Zoo. The exhibit has been closed to the public for construction of a neighboring polar bear area. Photo by Huy Mach, hmach@post-dispatch.com

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Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium's baby #penguins

 (click on image for wallpaper size!)

By Lindsey Theis.
 
OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV)-Three penguin chicks took their first steps with happy feet into the penguin habitat at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium Thursday morning.

The two Rockhoppers and one Gentoo penguin chick are in a playpen in the Antarctic Penguin display. The playpen gives the chicks an opportunity to acclimate to the other penguins and the exhibit. This time also allows their feathers to fully grow in as down feathers are not waterproof. The chicks will remain in the playpen for another few weeks until all of their feathers are in.

Hatched in December, the Rockhopper chicks currently weigh from 3.8 to 4.6 pounds, and the Gentoo penguin weighs 12.3 pounds. Full grown Rockhopper penguins weigh between 4.4 and 5.5 pounds, and full grown Gentoo penguins weigh between 13 and 17 pounds. The chicks are now eating whole capelin.

These chicks bring Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium penguin population to 80 penguins on display; 22 King penguins, 32 Gentoo penguins and 26 Rockhopper penguins. Rockhoppers are currently listed as vulnerable and Gentoos are near threatened, both with declining populations, on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List due to fisheries, loss of habitat and oil spills.

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WATCH: From fire to ice - West Midlands firefighters fill #penguin tank at Sea Life Centre

Dealing with icy-cold water makes a change for West Midlands firefighters, who are more used to tackling flames.

Filling up penguin tanks with cold water is all in a day's work for West Midlands Service and their hoses, as they were called in to the National Sea Life Centre ahead of their newest residents' arrival.


The Sea Life Centre's newest arrivals travelled halfway round the world from their natural habitats in the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, the Kerguelen Islands, the Macquarie Island, the Heard Islands, the South Shetland Islands, and the Antarctic Peninsula, to make their new home in Birmingham.

Gentoo penguins are classified as near-threatened on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List with only 300,000 breeding pairs.


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#Penguin of the Day

 

Underwater Humboldt Penguin by Matt Rowley

Penguin chicks make debut today at Science Center (video)

Five juvenile African penguins were added to the flock at the Greensboro Science Center’s Carolina SciQuarium, on Monday, Feb. 23, 2015, in Greensboro, N.C. JOSEPH RODRIGUEZ/News & Record

 

JOSEPH RODRIGUEZ/News & Record

Posted on Feb 23, 2015

by Susan Ladd

The baby boom continues at the Greensboro Science Center’s Carolina SciQuarium, with five more African penguin chicks getting ready to join the flock.
Males Brady and Jordy and females Raven, Keuchly and Wangari will be introduced to Penguin Point today.

Raven, born Oct. 29, could have joined the adult penguins earlier, but the keepers held her back until some of the other chicks were old enough to go out with her.

Pecking order is no joke in penguin colonies, and the young ones get picked on more if they don’t have clutch mates. “Chicks typically stay together and form their own hierarchy, which means they help each other from getting picked on too much by older birds,” senior keeper Carmen Murray said.

Visitors can see the new penguins starting at 9 a.m.

If you would like to help preserve penguin populations in the wild, pair your visit to the SciQuarium with dinner at Chipotle Mexican Grill. Between 4 and 8 p.m. today, Chipotle at 1420 Westover Terrace will donate 50 percent of its proceeds to the science center. Those donations will be dedicated to the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), which works for the preservation of African penguins.

In fact, eat two burritos while you’re there. You can work them off by training for the center’s second annual Tuxedo Trot: Run for the Penguins, to be held April 25, World Penguin Day.

The pair are the SciQuarium's first African penguins to successfully hatch at the center.

When making a purchase at this location during the fundraiser, diners must do one of the following to support the cause:

1. Bring in the flyer, available at the GSC’s Admissions Window and Information Desk.

2. Show the flyer on their smartphone, available on the GSC’s website: www.greensboroscience.org

3. Or simply tell the cashier you wish to support the GSC.

And when you visit the science center, take a look at the amazing attraction being built in the treetops. SkyWild fitness adventure course should be ready by the time the weather is once again hospitable for outdoor adventures.

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Lots more images here! 

#Penguins of the Day

 

Magellanic Penguins at Punta Arenas by cindytrowbridge1

Take a lesson from the #penguins on how to walk on ice

#Penguins of the Day

 

Humboldt penguins, Marwell Wildlife by Lozarithm

This Week's Pencognito!

Please be sure to click this link to visit Jen and all the Pengies!

3Penguins make their way to northern Michigan

by Allison Scott

Posted: 02.20.2015

GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY -- It was a sight on Grand Traverse Bay that had many people taking another look. There were three penguin statues standing on the bay for all to see.
The penguins must have known we were having very cold weather, so they made their way to Traverse City. But how they got here remained a mystery for most of Friday.

The penguins were a sight to see for many people going about their daily routines. "This is part of our regular route. We go to the Holiday Inn and back to the west side down the parkway and I was just down here Wednesday, two days ago, took the dog on the beach here and there were no penguins,” said Scott Baty, Traverse City Resident. “Come by this morning and there's penguins."

The penguins were located on West Bay near the intersection of Park Street and Grandview Parkway.
The penguins are only plastic, but their life-like features caused many people to take a second glance. "I think it's lovely,” said Jane Baty, Traverse City Resident. “I think it's great. I hope they do more. We'll have to seek them out."

Penguins in northern Michigan are something the Executive Director of the Cherryland Humane Society says he hasn't seen before. "It's brand new,” said Mike Cherry, Cherryland Humane Society Executive Director. “As a matter-of-fact, we've had large flocks of flamingos in the past during the warm weather and that, but this is brand new."

Unfortunately, Cherry says the shelter isn't equipped to take in the penguins. "They live in large colonies,” said Cherry. “You’re going to need to take care of about 20 penguins minimum. So that mean you're going to have to have a pretty healthy income." The important thing is they brought a warm smile to people on a cold day.

Friday afternoon, Maxbauers Market sent out a release claiming responsibility for putting the penguins on the bay. Maxbauers' co-owner said it was part of their promotional effort to remind people that they sell fresh fish, which penguins love.

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#Penguin of the Day

Snares crested penguin Eudyptes robustus

 Adult standing in profile. Station Point, The Snares, December 1986. Image by Alan Tennyson

Activists protest as 'uncaring' Mumbai zoo tries to buy #penguins

By Kunal V Shinde

Published: 9 February 2015

A dismal record in taking care of its inmates may throw a spanner in Veer Jijamata Udyan’s attempt to acquire Humbolt Penguins. 

The zoo in central Mumbai’s Byculla had a high mortality figure of 161 animals and birds in 2010-11. 

Moreover, political observers feel the keenness of the zoo authorities, popularly called the ‘Ranicha Baug’, to acquire the South American penguins is linked to the fact that it will benefit the ruling Shiv Sena, which is at the helm of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and controls it. 

Zoo director Anil Anzankar said care would be taken to provide the right habitat for the Humbolt Penguins

A report says Byculla zoo had a high mortality rate in 2010-11

They say that the Shiv Sena wants to draw advantage from the penguin project by making it a poll plank issue for the BMC elections in early 2017, where it will once again try to wrest control of the richest civic body in the country. 

Byculla Zoo, the oldest in Maharashtra, has a poor track record when it comes to its animals' survival. In 2010, 11 animals died of various ailments in a span of three months. This included a lioness, an alligator and some deer. 

Similarly in 2011, the zoo lost 150 animals and birds, recording the highest mortality rate among all Indian zoos. According to a report, at least 40 animals have died from various diseases. 

Despite facing protests from animal rights activists, the zoo authorities have continued with their lackadaisical attitude towards the zoo animals. 

Activists feel that the zoo authorities are not ensuring 24-hour veterinarian services on the premises and are not providing companions for lonely inhabitants. They complain that there is a lack of trained staff to take care of the animals. 

The zoo authorities say they have been making necessary arrangements by designing a special enclosure to keep the penguins, which may cost around Rs 20 crores. 

“The work is on. We will soon issue the tenders to design the enclosure. Penguin requires different habitat and we are working in that regard,” zoo director Anil Anzankar said. 

He also said necessary care will be taken for the habitat of the penguins, which live in a cool temperature of 15- 20 degree Celsius.

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#Penguins of the Day

 

Galapagos Penguins by Leigh Anne Logdon

Saint Louis Zoo to re-open #Penguin & Puffin Coast

                                        A king penguin

Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2015 

For the Intelligencer 

Penguin & Puffin Coast at the Saint Louis Zoo will re-open to the public on Thursday, March 5 at 10:30 a.m. with a parade of king and gentoo penguins leading the way. Immediately following the parade, the exhibit will once again be open to the public every day.

The exhibit has been closed since Sept. 2013 for construction of McDonnell Polar Bear Point, which is next door to the penguin habitats. The Humboldt penguins have been receiving visitors at their outdoor habitat since Oct. 2014; however, the indoor portion of the exhibit has remained closed to the public. Major construction of Polar Bear Point will be complete by this spring, and the exhibit is expected to open in summer 2015.

 “We know our visitors have missed the penguins and we’re happy to bring them back,” says Jeffrey P. Bonner, Ph.D., Dana Brown President and Chief Executive Officer of the Saint Louis Zoo. “Our spectacular new Polar Bear Point will be well worth the wait.”

 Penguin & Puffin coast opened in 2003 and is home to about 100 oceanic birds —penguins from the Southern hemisphere and puffins from the Northern hemisphere. The Dennis & Judy Jones Family Humboldt Haven is the outdoor habitat for the Humboldt penguins, a threatened species found only along the rugged Pacific coast of Peru and Chile. The 45-degree indoor Lichtenstein Penguin Cove is home to rockhopper, king and gentoo penguins. Horned and tufted puffins live in the Taylor Family Puffin Bay. Visitors can see these sea birds on land and underwater in this unique walk-through exhibit.

 Visitors can also continue to view the Zoo’s live penguin and puffin webcams at www.stlzoo.org/penguincam.

 The Zoo is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Admission to the Zoo and Penguin & Puffin Coast is free. For more information, visit www.stlzoo.org.

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Little blue #penguin walks its way to fitness

Thursday February 19, 2015 Source: ONE News

A little blue penguin in Palmerston North has been hitting the treadmill in a bid to recover from a serious leg injury.

It was brought to the Wildbase wildlife hospital at Massey University in December with a laceration to the back of her leg, and a severed tendon.

After surgery she had a cast on the leg for several weeks, followed by light physio which included a gentle range of motion exercises.

"We are now increasing her muscle mass, strength and stamina (after being a well fed couch potato!) by swimming her daily, range of motion exercises and also continuous walking on the treadmill - with splash factor!," Wildbase wrote on its Facebook page.

"The hospital has a hydro-physio treadmill that we are able to use. The water will add a level of resistance which will help build strong penguin muscles!"

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Sad outcome for Flipper the #penguin

Kirsten Wood
Department of Conservation

Julia Graham
Mauao Area Wildlife Trust

Date:  18 February 2015


‘Flipper’, the paralysed little blue penguin who appeared in the media in early January has had to be euthanized despite weeks of care and rehabilitation.

“Unfortunately upon release it became apparent that this individual wasn’t going to survive in his natural environment. Despite excellent vet treatment and rehabilitation care not all sick and injured wildlife can be saved”, said Mauao Area Wildlife Trust director Julia Graham.

The Department of Conservation is working in partnership with the Mauao Area Wildlife Trust and other volunteer organisations to grow the conservation of penguins and other seabirds around the Mount area.

“Despite the sad outcome here, working with Flipper has helped us develop a coalition of volunteer organisations focused on penguin rescue and rehabilitation”, says Department of Conservation Ranger Kirsten Wood. The future is looking bright for population as a whole.

“It’s exciting to think how much wildlife is living along the rocky shores and bush clad areas of the Mount and it is great to see the community working together to protect it.”

Flipper was found partially paralyzed at Maketu beach at New Year and was placed under the care of veterinarian Dr Liza Schneider at ARRC Wildlife Trust in Tauranga. The penguin regained the use of his legs and flippers – but was still very skinny and not preening himself properly.

For rehabilitation purposes, Flipper went to Oropi Native Bird Care Trust run by Chrissy Jefferson. He put on weight and was properly waterproofed by the time a decision was made to release him yesterday. The Mauao Area Wildlife Trust, who had worked closely with all parties involved during Flippers rehabilitation, made the decision to euthanise in consultation with the vets at ARRC Wildlife Trust.

“This sad outcome has been a learning curve for the parties involved”, says Julia Graham of the Mauao Wildlife Trust. “We’re committed to doing as much as we can for the local penguin and seabird population around the Mount and it is great to be working in partnership with others to do it.”

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#Penguin of the Day

 

'Sheena was a Rockhopper' by Adrian Jones

A Playful Penguin Photobombed A Coast Guard Crew

An adorable Adelie penguin decided to steal the spotlight from the crew of the American icebreaker Polar Star.

Feb. 6, 2015

Ellie Hall

BuzzFeed News Reporter

As they posed for the official ship photo, the crew of the icebreaker Polar Star had an unexpected addition to their group — an Adelie penguin, who scampered into frame and struck a pose.

The photo was taken on Jan. 31 in the Ross Sea, near Antarctica. U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area / Petty Officer 1st Class George Degener

The USCGC Polar Star and its crew of 140 are currently on a four-month mission to Antarctica as part of the annual operation to resupply McMurdo Station, the National Science Foundation’s Arctic research center.

U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area / Petty Officer 1st Class George Degener

The Polar Star is responsible for creating a channel through icy McMurdo Sound so that supply ships can reach the research station and deliver a year’s worth of food, fuel, and everything else its residents need to survive the freezing winter months.

In order to reach the station, the Polar Star has to break through 12 miles of ice, which can be as thick as 10 feet in some places.

The curious penguins of McMurdo Sound have been making friends with Coast Guard icebreakers and their crews ever since the service’s first mission to Antarctica in 1955–1956.

U.S. Coast Guard

U.S. Coast Guard

According to the Coast Guard’s official website, when the USCGC Eastwind first arrived at McMurdo Sound in January 1956, the local colony of emperor penguins had no fear of their new neighbors, and, according to a member of the ship’s crew, some even made friends with the humans:

“This one penguin kept hanging out with various Eastwind crewmembers while they were ashore. They originally painted a bow tie around his neck and button on his chest in grease (the penguin happily complied). The penguin then wiped the bow tie away by turning his head (hence the smudge in the picture). They then painted USCG on its stomach. He apparently loved it, and held a higher place in the penguin flock because of it.”

See you next year!

U.S. Coast Guard / PA2 KEVIN J. NEFF / March 15, 2007

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#Penguins love eating fish but probably can't taste them

(BMJ / Shutterstock)
The evolutionary peril of not chewing your food

• By Jacob Kastrenakes
• on February 16, 2015

You'd think that penguins would love the meaty taste of fish, but it turns out that they may not be able to taste their food much at all. A new genetic study out of the University of Michigan finds that penguins appear to have long ago lost the ability to taste sweet and bitter flavors, as well as the savory, meaty flavor known as umami. Together, sweet, bitter, and umami make up three of the five basic tastes. The other two, sour and salty, may still be present in penguins. The findings are being published today in Current Biology.

The fish may have been too cold for penguins to taste

So what led to penguins' believed loss of these tastes? "This is the most difficult question, especially because penguins eat fish and fish have the umami taste, so you would have predicted that the umami taste would have been useful to penguins," George Zhang, the paper's corresponding author, tells The Verge. Zhang's hypothesis — and he notes "it is still a hypothesis" — is that it's too cold down in Antarctica for these taste receptors to matter.

Prior research has shown that the tongue's receptor channels, which are what react to tastes, function poorly at lower temperatures when it comes to detecting sweet, bitter, and umami. The Michigan researchers speculate that the environment may have been so cold that this receptor was "effectively non-functional" in penguins' ancestors. "Those three tastes … would not be useful any more because the channel is not functioning," Zhang says. "So gradually mutations would accumulate in those genes and eventually they would become lost."

The study is based entirely on genetic findings, so another group of researchers will have to actually run tests with penguins to confirm that they can't taste these foods. But the study's authors are quite confident that future work will show penguins can't taste sweet, bitter, and umami flavors based on the genetic findings. "It's very clear," Zhang says. If the genes aren't there, he says, then the animals don't have those tastes.

The genes for tasting sweet, bitter, and umami were broken or missing

"The neighboring genes were all there, it's just that those specific taste genes were missing," Zhang says. "So we know it's not because the quality of the genome sequence." Zhang's research group was able to locate the genes for tasting bitter and umami flavors in around 20 other birds, but in the five penguin genomes that they looked at, including those from Adélie and emperor penguins, the genes were either broken or missing. Birds as a group are known to have lost their ability to detect sweet tastes, so that gene was absent in every sample that was tested.

The absence of bitter and umami tasting genes in the five penguins leads the researches to believe that penguins as a group likely lost this taste in their common ancestor, while the ability to detect sweet tastes appears to have been lost much farther back. Because penguins seem to have originated in the Antarctic, the researchers believe that penguins that live elsewhere should also be unable to detect these tastes, too.

(Anton_Ivanov / Shutterstock)

Though the researchers believe that penguins should still be able to detect sour and salty tastes, David Yarmolinsky, a taste researcher at Columbia who was not involved with the study, says that's still up in the air. "Really this paper can only make a statement about those three taste qualities," he says. That's because while the absence of a gene typically says something, its presence doesn't always mean the same thing.

"They did find a channel that's necessary for salt taste … but that doesn't mean a whole lot because that channel is required for your kidneys to work," he says. "If they didn't have that, they'd be dead penguins whether or not they can taste. So just because they have it in their genome doesn't mean they have it on their tongue." Yarmolinsky also says that the gene associated with the ability to detect sour tastes has complications that prevent that tasting ability from being a certainty, too.You really have to take the penguin and see how it reacts when you give it something sour to eat," he says. "That's really the test to see what they can or cannot taste."

Earlier research suggests that what taste buds penguins do have are fairly limited, if they have them at all. That makes sense, since the main function of penguins' tongues appears to be allowing them to capture prey; penguins also swallow their food whole. "Given the way their mouths are oriented, and how they hunt, capture, and consume their prey, it’s not surprising that penguins may have limited taste perception," Michael Polito, an ecologist with Louisiana State University who was not involved with the study, writes in an email to The Verge. "Other senses, especially vision and possibly even smell, may be more important when it comes to how penguins find and identify their favorite foods in the ocean."

Whales and dolphins are also believed to have lost most of their taste, with only the salt channel remaining. Yarmolinsky notes that researchers have been looking at taste loss and its consequences in other animals lately. This study, he says, "really fits into the story that's coming out the last few years that sensor receptors are adaptive to the lifestyles of animal diet." It's also believed that taste receptors may play other roles inside the body, so a penguin's inability to detect sweet, bitter, and umami flavors could have deeper implications than just what's on its tongue.

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#Penguin of the Day

 

Rockhopper Penguin by Tsung-Lin Yang

Photos: All Hail NYC's First King #Penguin Baby

Photograph by Julie Larsen Maher/WCS

 

The Wildlife Conservation Society has announced that the "first royal baby" born in our fair city has arrived—a king penguin chick, to be specific—at the Central Park Zoo's Polar Circle exhibit. According to the WCS:

The chick is the first king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) ever hatched in New York City. The landmark hatching is the result of the expertise and careful husbandry techniques practiced by the zoo’s keepers and curatorial staff...

The parents hatched the chick on exhibit in August. Afterward, all three were moved behind-the-scenes to carefully monitor the young penguin’s health and development. The family recently rejoined the rest of the penguin colony where zoo guests will be able to watch the chick transform from a gawky brownish fluff-ball to an elegant adult penguin.

Photograph by Julie Larsen Maher/WCS

 

Craig Piper, WCS Director of City Zoos, said, "This hatching is a wonderful accomplishment for our staff. It will be a treat to watch this penguin mature. This was the first year that the king penguin chicks were old enough to potentially produce a fertile egg and we’re thrilled that conditions proved right for them to incubate, hatch, and care for the chick."

The Central Park Zoo has over 60 penguins from four species—gentoo, chinstrap, rockhopper, and king—in the Polar Circle exhibit. Fun fact about the exhibit: "Special lighting simulates natural seasonal adjustments in day/night cycles. The change in sunrise and sunset throughout the year lets the penguins know when it is breeding season and triggers instinctual mating behaviors."

The WCS says that the king penguins"are the newest to the colony and were added to the group in 2010" and that the new baby "brings the total number of king penguins at the zoo to seven." The sex of the new chick hasn't been determined yet, but if it's a boy, we suggest Benedict:

Here are some more details about having king penguin chicks from the WCS:

Careful management of environmental conditions and meticulous monitoring of behaviors are key elements vital to the success of the husbandry work. Observation of certain behaviors like territory selection can be an indicator that an egg is on the way. Rather than building a nest, the king penguin parents incubate the egg on their feet, safely tucked under a flap of skin called a brood pouch to keep it warm. It is passed between the parents for the entire incubation period. The egg is incubated for 53 to 62 days, and the chick will stay with its parents for 10 to 13 months. While in the care of its parents, the chick receives partially digested food that is regurgitated into its mouth. At about 8-10 months, it will start to molt its downy brown feathers that will be replaced by the iconic black, white, and yellow adult plumage.
King penguins are native to subantarctic islands north of Antarctica and the near-by Falkland Islands (Las Malvinas), and Tierra del Fuego. They are the second-largest penguin species, surpassed only by their close relative, the emperor penguin.

The Central Park Zoo is open seven days a week; current hours (until April) are 10 a.m. through 4:30 p.m.; and general admission tickets are $12 for adults, $9 for senior citizens, $7 for children 3 to 12, and free for children younger than 3.

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#Penguins of the Day

Emperor penguins huddle together to keep their chicks warm. Marine scientist Frederique Oliver took the pictures of the protective parents in Antarctica as they huddled against the freezing winds...Picture: Frederique Oliver/Caters 

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 ...The birds have to battle temperatures of -20 degrees Celsius as well as winds of up to 40 knots on the ice.Picture: Frederique Oliver/Caters 

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Meet the new kids at #Penguin Point

Courtesy of Greensboro Science Center

Penguin chick Raven will go on view to the public on Feb. 23 at Greensboro Science Center. Rave was born on Oct. 29 and is the oldest of the chicks.

Posted: Monday, February 16, 2015 

By Susan Ladd/News & Record

 

The baby boom continues at the Greensboro Science Center's Carolina SciQuarium, with five more African penguin chicks getting ready to join the flock.
Males Brady and Jordy, and females Raven, Keuchly and Wangari, will be introduced to Penguin Point next Monday, Feb. 23.

Raven, born Oct. 29, could have joined the adult penguins earlier, but the keepers held her back until some of the other chicks were old enough to go out with her.

Pecking order is no joke in penguin colonies, and the young ones get picked on more if they don't have clutch mates. "Chicks typically stay together and form their own hierarchy, which means they help each other from getting picked on too much by older birds," explained senior keeper Carmen Murray. 

Visitors can see the new penguins starting at 9 a.m. Feb. 23.

Pair your visit to the SciQuarium with dinner at Chipotle Mexican Grill. The restaurant at 1420 Westover Terrace will donate 50 percent of proceeds to the Greensboro Science Center from 4-8 p.m. on Feb. 23. Those donations will be dedicated to the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), which works for the preservation of African penguins.

Eat two burritos while you're there. You can work them off by training for the Center's second annual Tuxedo Trot: Run for the Penguins, to be held April 25, World Penguin Day.

When making a purchase at this location during the fundraiser, diners must do one of the following to support the cause:

1. Bring in the flyer, available at the GSC's Admissions Window and Information Desk.

2. Show the flyer on their smartphone, available on the GSC's website: www.greensboroscience.org

3. Or simply tell the cashier they wish to support the GSC.

And when you visit the Science Center, take a look at the amazing attraction being built in the treetops. SkyWild should be ready by the time the weather is once again hospitable for outdoor adventures.

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#Penguin of the Day

 

Yellow-Eyed penguins closeup by AntjeSchlegel

African penguin release on Boulder’s Beach

Posted by SANCCOB 

Posted: February 10, 2015

Written by: Halden Krog

It was a picture of a slightly different kind as the sun beat down on the huge granite rocks that make up Boulders Beach in Simon’s Town. Instead of the familiar penguins, a twisting line of red and blue clad members of SANCCOB were drawing the attention as they made their way down the boardwalk towards the beach, each of them holding a large brown box with bold black letters warning: “handle with care” as they were carrying precious cargo indeed.

 

 

Slowly the boxes were lined up on the dunes, and the boardwalk suddenly became packed with onlookers all talking in hushed tones, some pointing, while others tried to capture the moment with their cameras.

All went silent just before the boxes were opened. The boxes were tipped over to reveal their monochromatic passengers inside. Seven plump African penguins plopped onto the white sand slowly surveying their surroundings, letting their natural instincts take hold, guiding them to the cool water.

 

The only adult of the group took the lead showing the youngsters the way down through the gauntlet of rocks, seaweed and rude locals – it would seem penguin colonies are not necessarily friendly to new comers. Eventually all seven waddled their way into the surf shaking their tails and ducking their heads in the Atlantic water. There were cheers and congratulations all round as another successful release was over.

 

 

SANCCOB is a leading marine-orientated, non-profit organisation which has treated more than 95 000 oiled, ill, injured or abandoned endangered African penguins and other threatened seabirds since being established in 1968.

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