Animal Encounters II

Hello and welcome to the 2nd edition of....Animal Encounters!
This is a weekly special edition and it's about animals at the zoo where I work! If you missed the 1st edition, click http://holeofmightymouse.blogspot.com/2006/03/animal-encounters-i.html to read it. Now, without further ado, let me introduce my guests for this week:

The Penguins

There are thought to be 17 species of penguin. All are black and white with flipper-like wings and are unable to fly. Penguins all come from the southern half of the world, living along the cold coasts of Antartica to the Equator. The largest penguin is the Emperor penguin at 1m tall, and weighing up to 30kg.

"Er..Skipper...someone's taking pictures!"

Penguins feed at sea, chasing fish at high speeds. They swim with porpoise-like movement, jumping above the surface from time to time to breath air. This also confuses predators like leopard seals, killer whales, and sharks. Penguins can collapse their lungs when they dive in search of fish, usually at depths of up to 20m. Normally they hold their breath for up to 3 mins.

"Well...act cute & cuddly boys"

Have a look at the penguins. They have light fronts and dark backs. This colouring camouflages them when swimming. Seen from below, their white tummy blend with the white sky; from above, their backs blend with the deep dark water. Other animals, like killer whales, camouflage themselves in the same way.

"Cute & cuddly...."

Penguins keep themselves warm by two ways. They have a thick layer of body fat (blubber), and special feathers which are oily at the top but fluffy at the bottom. This fluffy part traps warm air close to the skin, and the oily part makes a waterproof layer over the top.

"Now...run!"

We've got two different species of penguin at the zoo. One is the African Penguin and they come from Southern Africa.

African Penguin

The other is the Gentoo Penguin and they are the 3rd largest penguin. They breed in the sub-Antartic regions like the Falkland Islands.

Gentoo Penguin

So that's about it fellow readers! I hope you've enjoyed this week's post. Look out for the next exciting edition of....Animal Encounters!

"Aw crap!"

On a side note, I've received an offer from the firm which I had an interview with on Wednesday in Bath! And my final year project is finally falling into place, with my poster presentation coming up next week! It seems everything is going pretty smooth after the past few weeks of misery....almost unbelievable. Such a big turnaround...life can be really unpredictable.