We saw all these penguins today, 25,000 pairs very cool. How to film them is a tricky one! I’m not saying they all look the same but to the untrained observer it is pretty tough to follow central characters. The camera-shy penguin has plenty of opportunities to fade into the crowd. Maybe that is why there are gaping holes in the study of penguin behaviour. Like what attracts one penguin to another?
Try following one to find out and I would say it is pretty close to impossible. Still, penguins do find a mate and more miraculously manage to re-find the same mate when they return from lengthy trips out at sea. They achieve that by having a very finely tuned sense of sound frequencies. Even when there are 50,000 other penguins making noise – penguins exhibit a remarkable sensory ability to differentiate the unique sound of their partner or chicks, that is known as the “cocktail party” effect. In fact there are lots of amazing things about penguins. Like how they managed to evolve from the sea into birds, then into flightless birds that swim, and why they can’t go back to the sea full time – where they look a lot more in their element – because they still need to lay eggs.
Or how are baby penguins brave enough to fend for themselves after less than a year of their 25-40 year lives? That is not very long to learn the ways of the world. We are pretty sentimental creatures really us humans, that is why I am glad I am not a penguin living in the freezing cold sub-Antarctic with giant skuas swooping overhead and massive leopard seals hulking about. It is a wonder they still manage to have such a great time. You only need to follow one for ten minutes (best to pick one on the outskirts of a colony!) playing in the surf with some friends, and you will have a great time too.
Tags: Antarctica, King Penguins, leopard seals, skuas
