Snoring Squirrel..... Springs School PolarTREC educator Lisa Seff holding an Arctic Ground Squirrel at the Museum of the North on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. February 11th, 2014. Photo by Susan Steiner.
FIRST FATHERS TRIP A SUCCESS FOR PENGUINS (2007) Father’s Day came early for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Nearly all the fathers of the players and some staff members accompanied the team for its recent two-game roadtrip to Dallas and Phoenix in the organization’s first fathers trip. And, the players had the chance to room with their fathers on the road. “It was great. I haven’t done that in a long time – hang out with my dad like I was in a minor hockey tournament and stuff. It was pretty good. Other than all the guys complaining about the snoring, everything else was a good trip for them,” Colby Armstrong said with a smile. “It was a really classy move for the organization to do that for them. It was set up real nice. They got to go to a real nice golf course and eat at nice restaurants and stay in nice hotels. It was probably more than they expected.”
Penguins and Their Chicks: Super-Parents "A common misconception about penguin parenting, instigated by polar explorers in the 1960s, was that penguins regularly deserted their chicks. It was believed that they deliberately starved their chicks in order to force them to leave the breeding colony. This was founded on observations that the chicks of King Penguins (Aptenodytes patagonica) weighed more than adult birds and lost this weight prior to fledging. The desertion theory was subsequently generalised to other penguin and seabird species such as Albatrosses."
Live Penguin Cam - Kansas City Zoo I figured they would all be sleeping, but many are awake at 11:20pm. Amazing how fast they can swim below the water. How Do Penguins Sleep? Rather than going into a deep slumber like most other animals, penguins take several short naps throughout the day. On average, these naps last only minutes. Although the time of day varies, the late afternoon or early evening is the best time for them to nap, as they have finished their final meal of the day. [Can be viewed in HD (2160p) on YouTube]
All of the penguins in the KC Zoo have names. I spent some time this afternoon looking for one named Elvis. He is supposedly recognizable because the feathers are rubbed off on a spot on his belly. Zookeeper's think it's due to scooting on his stomach while being overweight. I never could find him, but did see something else. There is a little round pond on the far right of the screen. I thought it might be a bathtub, because there was a penguin in it splashing water all over the place. Turns out he was trying to get out on the steep bank side and couldn't make it. Two other penguins came running waddling over to see what was the commotion, and tried to steer his head toward the flat-sloped side of the tub. When he got pointed in the right direction, he started thrashing and splashing again, and one of the two penguins grabbed his flipper with his mouth and helped him get out. I saw it with my own eyes. Wish it was on tape instead of live. Anyway, I did finally get a look at Elvis. He appears briefly in this video at 0:06, and 0:46. He has definitely been downing more than his share of dinner. Maybe it was Elvis who was stuck in the tub.
Penguins Are Smart As They Can Communicate With Each Other "Gentoo penguins are also known to form rafts that comprise hundreds of penguins when swimming to catch fish. The raft formation helps the penguins to catch more fish by diving quickly and cornering fish as needed. It also shows that the penguins can communicate with each other to catch more fish." "Penguins also have a deep sense of ownership and recognition of what belongs to them. Female penguins will seek out their mate among a crowd of thousands of penguins by listening for a particular squawking pattern. Communication is also one of the intelligence showing traits displayed by the penguins. They will often bray or at each other and slap their feet to communicate."