For Sunday, we have three videos of chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarcticus), all taken at Orne Harbor, Antarctica, on November 16.
The first one shows males calling and displaying in their rookery. The males raise their heads, flap their wings, and emit raucous calls. Presumably they’re displaying their vigor to onlooking females.
The next two show them walking and hopping, and I could watch penguins walk forever. Note that in the first video a bird stops its perambulations to have a bite of snow.
The background noise in these videos is the wind, which was blowing strongly that day (brrrr. . . . ..).
One more:
Cute!
The penguin in the last video almost hops instead of walking. Having to go up hill on rough ground makes movement harder. Land is not friend to the penguin.
Yes, they tend to hop when the ground is very uneven, and toboggan when the ground is perfectly smooth.
Always enjoyable.
The tail seems to serve a bit as a prop while walking. The equivalent of us using a cane for stability. Clearly they are finely adapted for aqueous locomotion. We can only sympathize. In the water, they would sympathize with us.
During which it completely slipped my mind that penguins are birds.
Interesting how they use their flippers to maintain balance, even to stop themselves from falling over.
Thanks Jerry. I love seeing these videos, and the photos. The chinstraps seem particularly lovely with their chin straps! The first video shows a very charismatic setting for a penguin colony.
I love those penguins! Their raucous squawks had one of my dogs running around wondering what was making that infernal sound. 🙂
Nice videos. It appears they are not really nimble walkers (as long as they can out-walk leopard seals, I guess that’s fine).
Dr Coyne – I’ve a question about the rookeries; is there an ecology around them? I mean if they repeatedly use the same rookeries (do they?) their waste seems like it might provide nutrients for some life (maybe not animal or plant). I’m betting carcasses of chicks and adults don’t last long, what with scavengers. I also bet those rookeries don’t smell so good either.
Let me explain…I’m thinking that like how riparian animals can greatly shape their riverside environments and thus the life around them, it seem these birds bring nutrients ashore that otherwise might not be there.
No, the rookeries don’t smell that good, and there are birds that eat penguin poop. I never saw any carcasses, but I’ll bet that skuas dismember them quickly.
They have cute feet!