The college protest post has exhausted me for today, not only because reading this stuff is psychologically debilitating, but also because I’m preparing my talks for Amsterdam. Tomorrow I’ll try to resume regular posting, but for now you get a penguin video as lagniappe.
These happen to be Emperor Penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri), which live on sea ice, so I never saw them on my jaunts to Antarctica. When they’re six to seven months old, after parental feeding has ceased, they trek en masse to the ocean to begin feeding and starting their life as free-living animals. This National Geographic video shows them making an unusual jump into the sea from fifty-foot ice cliffs.
This reminds me of the mallards at Botany Pond who build their nests two or three stories off the ground. In that case, when the chicks hatch they have to make a perilous leap to the ground below (next to the water), egged on by the quacking mother who has flown to the ground. They are naturally apprehensive, but one chick is brave enough to jump and the others follow. (I’ve never seen a duckling injured in the leap.) These penguins seem to make successful leaps, too, and once one has made it the others follow. They’re like the proverbial lemmings! I hope they don’t land on each other.
The photography is marvelous.
Perfect
Well, it is a water landing. It looks to me like some of them weren’t quite ready to jump!
Have you ever done a water landing from 50ft? 30 ft is the biggest I’ve ever done (we rock climbed on those cliffs ; the drop was measured ; we also knew where there was a getting-out point – it was a recognised bail-out option for when grip and friction lost out to gravity) and it hurts if you’re even a bit off.
Granted, they’re a lot lighter than hoominz, but it’s still going to hurt.
Some fell off backwards. Those worried me.
They are well padded.
Thanks, I needed that.
Interesting that they flap their wings. Is that some instinct from many generations ago?
Many of the penguins are randomly oriented as they fall, often resulting in hard belly flops. It seems reasonable to think that some would incur internal injuries, or injuries to their wings. If not, maybe there are physical principles involved that could be used for spacecraft landing on other worlds.
This was so beautifully done. At first I thought the music was overly dramatic, but then I got caught up in the suspense and actually got choked up a bit-
Fantastic stuff. The next question is where do they come back on shore? And where are the leopard seals and orcas? When do they work out where to go for takeaways?
I can just hear exasperated Emperor Penguin mothers.
“Look, I don’t care who else is skipping marching practice. If your chick buddy jumped off a cliff, would you jump, too?”
Chicks thought “Okay, we’ll do that, thanks!”
Penguin chicks not the brightest birds on the tree.
I am surprised by the fact that they are apparently still so downy when entering the water. Does anyone know… Do they have a full coat of waterproof feathering beneath down that just has not fallen out yet? Do they hold onto the down over the waterproof feathers longer for insulation while they are still ashore and then lose it very quickly once immersed?
That’s obviously a Darwin Award competition!
That’s high drama! Thank you for this.
OMG those penguins are so brave! And they still have their baby furs!