Rockhopper Penguins

Happy Feet, the 2006 animated film that tells the story of Mumble, a penguin who cannot sing (penguins find their mates through song in the movie) and is ostracized in his colony as a result. In an effort to understand his place in the world, he meets different creatures in Antarctica.

One of the movie’s stars is Lovelace, a dramatic and flamboyant ‘guru’ of a colony of Adelie penguins who wears a six-pack ring around his neck, voiced by the ever lovable Robin Williams. Lovelace is a Rockhopper penguin, a species of penguin that’s a bit smaller than adelies. Rockhoppers are categorized into 3 different subspecies, namely the eastern, northern and southern subspecies.

Interestingly enough, none of these rockhopper penguin species breeds on the Antarctic continent, making Lovelace a bit of a square peg in a round hole in the movie. Rockhopper colonies can be found in Chile, Argentina and the Falkland Islands, as well as in a number of uninhabited islands scattered throughout the south Atlantic, in the southern regions of the Indian Ocean, and even as far as islands off the coast of New Zealand. Rockhoppers are known to live and breed together in huge colonies, which populate rugged terrain near deep oceans and fresh water sources.

The habitats of rockhoppers are a clue of how they got their name. Unlike many penguins that walk and move around obstacles by sliding on their stomachs, rockhoppers will hop over rocks and small cracks. Rochopper penguins mainly feed on fish, crustaceans and squid. Of all the penguin species featured in Happy Feet, rockhoppers are by far the most fragile, greatly affected by human activities, such as overfishing, which has severely lowered populations in many islands. Fishing is not the only problem it faces, as climate change, red tide and egg harvesting have also affected rockhopper populations. As such, the rockhopper penguin is now officially listed as a vulnerable species.

 Rockhopper Penguins Video

 

Emperor Penguin

We usually watch nature documentaries on TV about wild animals and their natural environments. These shows commonly show us how these animals act in the wild and what they have to do in order to survive. One animal that has fascinated many people is the emperor penguin. There have been many nature documentaries made about the lives of these flightless birds and one of the most notable is the March of the Penguins, narrated by Morgan Freeman. The documentary was co-produced by the National Geographic Society and Bonne Pioche. Luc Jacquet co-wrote and directed the movie, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary feature in 2005.

The nature documentary shows how emperor penguins journey through the Antarctic every year, leaving the ocean and walking across vast expanses of ice and snow to their breeding grounds. Here the penguins go through courtship and if successful, the propagation of their species. It also shows the journey penguins make between their breeding grounds and the ocean to hunt and find food for their chicks to survive.

Emperor penguins are known for their size and color. The tallest amongst the penguin species, they have orange beaks and yellow markings around their heads. As chicks, they hatch with gray feathers that change to black and white as they grow. These penguins are known to use vocal calls to identify their partners and chicks amongst the millions of penguins in a colony. Their diet is mainly composed of cephalopods, fish and crustaceans found in the waters of the Antarctica. These penguins are masters when it comes to adapting to cold and harsh environments. They are also very social creatures, living in colonies and rarely travelling or hunting alone.

 Emperor Penguin Pictures

Emperor Penguin image

Emperor Penguin images

Emperor Penguin Picture

Emperor Penguin Video

 

Penguin 337’s Adventure

The Tokyo Sea Life Park, a few months back, noted the absence of one of its residents – Penguin 337.

Discovered to have been missing since March, video footage of a penguin with uncanny resemblance to Penguin 337 recently surfaced, leading the harborside aquarium’s officers and staff convinced that Penguin 337 is doing fine out in the “wild”.

A year old Humboldt Penguin at the time, Penguin 337’s escape two months ago involved scaling a 13 foot rock wall and some squeezing through barbed wire fences. “Flying out of the coop”, the bird’s prospects were narrowed down to the new life it could lead in the Tokyo Bay area.

The video revealed much about how Penguin 337 is fairing out in the wild, in the Tokyo Bay area, of all wild places.

"You can see it's got the same ring around its flipper and identical facial patterns," shares Kazuhiro Sakamoto, Deputy Director, Tokyo Sea Life Park

"It didn't look like it had got thinner over the past two months, or been without food. It didn't seem to be any weaker. So it looks as if it has been living quite happily in the middle of Tokyo Bay."

Waterpark staff are convinced that Penguin 337 has been "gorging on small fish in the bay during daylight hours and returning to the shore at night to rest."

No reports on an ongoing operation to catch Penguin 337 has been noted, but given the risks and dangers to be encountered by a Penguin in Tokyo Bay, there’s a big chance one may be on its way.

For now, the video reassures waterpark staff that Penguin 337 is doing very well in the wild, and that its sense of adventure hasn’t led it to pitfalls of danger and risks to its life.