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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, December 19th 2024 - 10:04 UTC

Tag: penguins

  • Tuesday, November 30th 2021 - 19:00 UTC

    Unauthorized works kill hundreds of penguins in Chubut

    The perpetrator faces up to one year in jail

    A landowner in the town of Punta Tombo in the Argentine Province of Chubut is to be prosecuted under the Law of Cruelk Treatment Against Animals after crushing several penguin nests and electrocuting over a hundred of the birds living at the local natural wildlife reserve some 110 kilometres south from Rawson, the provincial capital.

  • Tuesday, January 19th 2021 - 09:10 UTC

    Falklands Conservation advises on penguins’ 'catastrophic' moulting period

    Penguins come ashore to moult over a 3-4 week period; they are unable to go to sea to feed and sometimes restricted to their water intake. Photo: John Buckingham

    Unlike all other birds, penguins go through what is called a “catastrophic” moult. For the penguin, it is probably as bad as it sounds. Falklands Conservation recalls that every penguin must moult once a year, normally between December to March, by drastically shedding all their feathers and re-growing new feathers in one go – hence the “catastrophic”.

  • Friday, January 15th 2021 - 09:15 UTC

    Falkland Islands penguins’ catastrophic moulting and how you can help them

    Every penguin must moult once a year, normally between December to March, by drastically shedding all their feathers and re-growing new feathers in one go – hence the “catastrophic”

    Falklands Conservation has illustrated that unlike all other birds, penguins go through what is called a “catastrophic” moult. For the penguin it is probably as bad as it sounds. Every penguin must moult once a year, normally between December to March, by drastically shedding all their feathers and re-growing new feathers in one go – hence the “catastrophic.”

  • Wednesday, December 23rd 2020 - 09:22 UTC

    Widowed penguins comforting each other, winner of Ocean Photograph awards

    The photo was taken by Tobias Baumgaertner. He was told that the two penguins had recently lost their partners and often appeared to be comforting each other

    The year 2020 has produced many poignant and powerful photographs. But a shot of two widowed penguins appearing to comfort one another in Australia has been picked out as a winner in Oceanographic magazine's Ocean Photograph Awards.

  • Wednesday, November 4th 2020 - 08:23 UTC

    Gentoo penguins are four species, not one, say scientists

    “The four species we propose live in quite different latitudes”

    By University of Bath – Gentoo penguins should be reclassified as four separate species, say scientists at the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, after analyzing the genetic and physical differences between populations around the southern hemisphere.

  • Thursday, August 27th 2020 - 09:05 UTC

    Parade of penguins waddling to burrows, a lockdown online hit in Australia

    Before the pandemic, going to watch the penguin colonies on Phillip Island, about two hours' drive from Melbourne, was a major tourist draw.

    A nightly penguin parade live-streamed from a deserted Australian park has become an online lockdown hit, with hundreds of thousands tuning in to watch the cute creatures waddle back to their burrows from the sea.

  • Friday, July 10th 2020 - 07:14 UTC

    Mint launches South Georgia 50-penny coins depicting Chinstrap penguins

    Chinstrap penguins are often referred to as “stonebreaker” or “stone-cracker” penguins,” as their screech is so piercing that some say it could break stones.

    Penguins continue to be a popular motif for the Pobjoy Mint, which has just launched a new series of 50-penny coins depicting the flightless birds. The first coin in the 2020 50-penny coin series on behalf of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands features the chinstrap penguin.

  • Saturday, January 25th 2020 - 09:57 UTC

    Falklands' January storm causes massive loss of Rockhopper penguin chicks

    The colony is at the south west end of Sea Lion. Rockhopper penguins are among the smaller species of penguin: at full growth, they are about 20 inches in height. (Pic M. Reeves)

    84% of Rockhopper chicks on Sea Lion Island have died as a result of a storm that hit the Falkland Islands on January 14/15. Strong easterly winds on the island, which lies southeast of East Falklands, launched sea spray on to the colony for more than 48 hours, to deadly effect, said owner Mickey Reeves.

  • Saturday, November 30th 2019 - 06:44 UTC

    Swimming with penguins and whales off Antarctica Peninsula

    Antarctica, a land of adventure without rulers, is “like the heart of the Earth”, according to Marcelo Leppe, director of the Chilean Antarctic Institute.

    “It's like getting stabbed,” a tourist exclaims as he plunges into the three degree Celsius water, all under the intrigued gaze of a group of penguins. All around Half Moon Island, off the Antarctic Peninsula, blocks of ice of all sizes float by on a calm sea, their varying forms resembling weightless origami shapes.

  • Friday, May 10th 2019 - 09:50 UTC

    Vital role of penguins and seals poo for Antarctica bio-diversity

    A study found the influential excrement supported thriving communities of mosses and lichens, which in turn sustained vast numbers of microscopic animals

    For more than half a century, biologists studying Antarctica focused their research on understanding how organisms cope with the continent's severe drought and the coldest conditions on the planet. One thing they didn't really factor in, however, was the role played by the nitrogen-rich droppings from colonies of cute penguins and seals - until now.