Penguins, courtesy of Wikipedia

Penguins (order Sphenisciformes, family Spheniscidae) are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have become flippers. Most penguins feed on krill, fish, squid, and other forms of sealife caught while swimming underwater. They spend about half of their lives on land and half in the oceans.

Although all penguin species are native to the southern hemisphere, they are not found only in cold climates, such as Antarctica. In fact, only a few species of penguin live so far south. Several species are found in the temperate zone, and one species, the Galápagos Penguin, lives near the equator.

The largest living species is the Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri): adults average about 1.1 m (3 ft 7 in) tall and weigh 35 kg (75 lb) or more. The smallest penguin species is the Little Blue Penguin (Eudyptula minor), also known as the Fairy Penguin, which stands around 40 cm tall (16 in) and weighs 1 kg (2.2 lb). Among extant penguins, larger penguins inhabit colder regions, while smaller penguins are generally found in temperate or even tropical climates (see also Bergmann's Rule). Some prehistoric species attained enormous sizes, becoming as tall or as heavy as an adult human. These were not restricted to Antarctic regions; on the contrary, subantarctic regions harboured high diversity, and at least one giant penguin occurred in a region not quite 2,000 km south of the equator 35 mya, in a climate decidedly warmer than today. (courtesy of Wikipedia)

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Five Minutes of Peace: A Marvelous Penguin Video

This video of penguin "family life" arrived two weeks ago, while I was in the midst of "urgent" assignments. And it couldn't be clearer what the difference is between the urgent -- that is, things we've promised to do by a particular time, or requests from the people around us for something that "needs to happen right now" -- and the important. I feel as though I got a true Time Out by watching this video today. For me, that's important.

Obviously, we can't "know" what nonhumans "feel" -- to the penguins in this video, maybe the loveliness of the actions and moments aren't noticed. But the acts of observing, of recording, of presenting to others these penguins can be a blessing for us. That, I think, is something we can know.

Thanks, Lucy and Richard, for making this connection. Here's the video link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=SkY03n0_sD8&vq=medium
Posted by Beth Kanell at 6:08 AM

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)