The kororā (little blue penguin) I saw in New Zealand at the most fantastic rehabilitation center at Christchurch airport.
All of the inhabitants are unable to survive in the wild and are being very well cared for. It was amazing.
Oh no…
This could be a “those that don’t know: :) vs those that know: :|” situation.
Penguins almost only leave their flock and go inland to die, as far as I’m aware it’s not exactly known why.
Probably just a random instinct that was reinforced by survival of the fittest (at group population levels) because it meant that group didn’t contaminate their nests or water with the dead, which would also attract scavengers that might also try to prey on living penguins when there weren’t any already dead handy.
Or maybe they go to get frozen so that when a future penguin solves the problem of death, they can go and unfreeze the frozen penguins and use that massive undead penguin army to conquer more southern islands.
Because they know it’s coming, and now’s the best time to find out what’s out there.
Hello, I would like one fish combo please, hold the seal.
If seeing this doesn’t delight you, you’re a monster. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. You’re a monster.
Penguins just haven’t been around humans enough to avoid them, like most mainland animals learned the hard way.
Penguins are so smol?? I thought they were tall like at least maybe 3’ or so. But they’re less than our own knee height??
Depends on the species of penguin. There are some big ones as well as little guys! Also that penguin might be on the younger side, given that it seems pretty curious about the world.
I’m not a marine biologist though, so treat this with a grain of salt
as the other comment said, depends on the species
like look at this fella
i like this video about themBirch Aquarium in San Diego has a little blue penguin live cam of these guys! They are really cute.
In the nature it’s strict forbidden to touch pinguins, becaise it destroys the plumage impregnation and insulation, which has deadly consequences for the pinguin in the Water and with an harsh climate. Because of this you never will see scientifics doing it. Different in Zoos.
This picture looks like it isn’t in a harsh climate. We generally think of penguins living in the polar ice caps, but there are several species that live in warmer climates. Based on the sandy beach here, I’m guessing this is one of those.
They have a bunch of these lil fellas at the Cincinnati Zoo, and they are doubly cute in person. Just saying.
Also known as Little Penguins in a rare case of extremely apt naming 😁
Emperor penguins are big, like 4’ iirc, but are the largest species. Most penguins are more like the size of an ordinary bird like a duck or a goose or whatever
They go from being the size and weight of a liter of yoghurt (the aptly named Little penguin) to as tall as a zebra and as heavy as a Rottweiler dog (Emperor penguins)
Apex predator?
Adelie don’t care.
What, humans? No, we are omnivores, occasional predators.
But there’s no such thing as land predators.
😍
