Pudgy Penguins!
I have this thing for penguins, and in case you were wondering, it's not because I saw March of the Penguins. I really wanted to see it at first, until I realized that I was crying uncontrollably whenever I saw the trailer. I even cried when I looked at the companion book at Barnes and Noble!
If I see penguins marching in the cold, or huddling together, or little baby penguins, I get all misty eyed. And I heard about the penguinsicle, and I know that image would haunt me forever. So no, I can't see that movie.
However, this article about the fat penguins on a diet made my day. Thank you for the link, La Wade!
"In order to withstand the cold, the penguins have a habit of standing very still during winter months."
Sniff!
If I see penguins marching in the cold, or huddling together, or little baby penguins, I get all misty eyed. And I heard about the penguinsicle, and I know that image would haunt me forever. So no, I can't see that movie.
However, this article about the fat penguins on a diet made my day. Thank you for the link, La Wade!
"In order to withstand the cold, the penguins have a habit of standing very still during winter months."
Sniff!
9 Comments:
so here we go, penguins have gotten along fine without humans telling them what to do for thousands of years, man gets them for a few years and thinks he knows what is good for them better than the penguins, what arrogance.
penguins are meant to be fat! that is their fuel, insulation against cold and bouyancy in the ocean.
and I am sure their diets in captivity has something to do with that extra fatness, you know not feeding them enough, when a penguin gets hungry he leaves and goes gets some, but man decides he only needs one or two feedings per day and only a few ounces, etc, so man's arrogance shows up once a gain.
RR
I was just reading this comment and clicked on the "Love Penguins?" advertisement that came up promising "2,500 Penguin Products" because I DO LOVE PENGUINS, and this product makes no sense.
First of all, that whole "got ___?" is so over. (And I'm not just saying that because that's the ad agency that fired me IN A SHADY FASHION.)
And second of all, that's a bear, not a penguin. It would make sense if it were actually a penguin, right? Right?! WHO'S WITH ME?
I hate to be the one to break this to you, Mo, but you know what polar bears eat, right? (Hint: they're cute)
Polar bears and penguins don't even live at the same poles! The only time polar bears eat cute penguins is when you're playing Zoo Tycoon and you set up a polar bear exhibit next to the penguin exhibit and name all your penguins things like Snack and Dinner and Sno Cone, and then drop them into the polar bear cage one at a time.
Not that I've ever done that.
"Penguinsicle"? Sniff, indeed!
I live just along the road from the UK's largest collection of penguins (Edinburgh Zoo) and they've been going for walks for years. It's called the Penguin Parade. (Apparently no penguins are forced to parade, and they can stay in the enclosure if they wish.) They seem to like it and it's certainly very cute.
Penguins don't really object to food restriction, do they? After all, they famously go without food for weeks on end while incubating eggs. You can't judge their physiology by human standards!
I have a photograph of baby penguins cuddling for warmth. There are hundreds of them and they're standing close together and sort of draping their fluffy little wings over each other. It is THE snuggliest picture. Accuse me of shameless anthropomorphizing if you will...
I have to join in with Roberta. In particular, this intro is bothersome:
It's wintertime and the king penguins at a zoo in northern Japan are putting on weight. But the keepers there have a solution: exercise.
Solution? They have a solution? But they haven't yet indicated a problem, so how could there possibly be a solution?
This just underscores how overweight is so universally loathed, and just assumed to be a problem that needs solving, even when it's a wholly natural result of seasonal cycles - and which naturally remediates itself when seasons change! Duh! I say, leave the goddamn penguins alone! Let them stand still on their "tender webbed feet" (sniff) if that's what they naturally do in winter months. sheesh!
Wow, I had no idea this article would be so controversial!
I'm pretty sure the reason why this exercise program was instituted was not for aesthetic reasons, but rather to protect the health of these animals. Yes, penguins normally gain weight in the winter, but this is to protect them against the challenges of extreme cold and prolonged food deprivation during the season, challenges that they're not going to face in a zoo environment. The article didn't spell it out, but in the wild, these animals naturally experience weight loss over the course of the season, which wouldn't happen in the sheltered environment of the zoo.
I do think the issue of how best to care for captive wild animals that are normally exposed to harsh conditions is a very complicated one. But I think it's overly simple to say let "nature" take its course when many crucial elements of these animals' natural environment is missing.
-La Wade
I can't see animal movies of any kind. They make me too sad. And I LOVE penguins, but I just couldn't do it. And I didn't even know about the penguinsicle. Sigh.
Even those "Benji" movies when I was a kid...it just tore me up when that damn dog had no home.
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