New Zealand is the world’s penguin capital. There are sixteen species of living penguins, nine of which breed in New Zealand and at least another four are visitors. New Zealand is home to the greatest diversity of penguins.
Penguins belong to an exclusive family of birds called Spheniscidae. While many groups of water birds include one or two flightless species, penguins are the only group in which all members are flightless. This universal loss of flight suggests that, whatever evolutionary event drove the ancestors of penguins to give up flying, the transition to swimming and diving has been enormously successful. Through these exercises, penguins have the capability to resort to an alternative strategy and thus inevitably achieving an apt substitute to flying.
Contrary to most people’s idea of a penguin’s habitat, these species of penguins can be found deep in the shade of southern New Zealand’s coastal forests and offshore Islands. These species are unique among penguins because they choose to build their nests deep beneath lush rainforest and there is not an iceberg in sight. The location of their habitat highlights their resourceful nature and efficiency by producing a home in the forest. Fiordland crested penguins are especially shy and perhaps most vulnerable to disturbance as being the least social of all penguins. They nest individually, or in loose colonies in nest sites such as caves, under overhangs, at the base of trees or in dense vegetation.
Usually we perceive penguins as being surrounded by icebergs and snow but Fiordland crested penguins have chosen to ignore this penguin stereotype in favour of a more temperate climate. Luckily for visiting penguin enthusiasts this means Fiordland can be spotted without hav...
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...y estimated to be around 3,000 breeding pairs of Fiordland crested penguins. Clearing the land for farming removes the vegetation Fiordland Crested Penguins need to shelter their nests. Indirect threats include pollution, overfishing and – perhaps most insidious – global warming.
References:
Penguin.net.nz -Fiordland crested. 2014. Penguin.net.nz -Fiordland crested. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.penguin.net.nz/species/fiord/index.html. [Accessed 16 February 2014].
Penguins – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. 2014. Penguins – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/penguins. [Accessed 16 February 2014].
Fiordland Crested Penguins. 2014. Fiordland Crested Penguins. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.photovolcanica.com/PenguinSpecies/Fiordland/FiordlandCrestedPenguinPhotos.html. [Accessed 16 February 2014].
The four-pointed forkbird has the best suited evolutionary fitness. By the end of the activity, there were only two two-pointed forkbirds, one one-pointed forkbirds, and seventeen four-pointed forkbirds. This shows that four-pointed forkbirds have a better chance of surviving and passing on their traits.
Oxygen breathing lungs are a universal trait of class reptilia. As such, it would have been necessary for the Plesiosauroid - a marine reptile, to return to the ocean surface to inhale air. Oxygen expenditure in reptiles is proportional to strenuosity of locomotion (Frappell, Schultz & Christian, 2002). Therefore the Plesiosauroid must have held physiological traits that enabled the species to avoid oxygen deficit while hunting deep-sea dwelling prey. This essay will outline the hypothesised respiratory, circulatory, pulmonary and sensory attributes of the Plesiosauroid as they relate to diving. These hypotheses will be supported by investigating the physiological adaptations of the Plesiosaur’s biological analogues, and the prospect of similar adaptations in the former will be speculated upon.
Every day many species are slowly becoming either endangered or extinct and recently an endangered bird species called piping plovers, started nesting on Revere Beach. What would seem as a miraculous discovery, many are averse to their new inhabitants on the beach. Many Revere residents are complaining because the piping plovers now occupy parts of “their” beach. But in the article “Revere Beach should welcome the piping plover” The Editorial Board believes that the presence of the piping plover could be greatly beneficial to the city of Revere and I certainly agree. What led me to select this particular article is my concern for the many endangered species in the world like the piping plover. Human hands have led many species to become endangered
Seahorses are a prime example of species whose atypical biology and unusual global distribution leads to a series of evolutionary questions. Seahorses (genus Hippocampus) are a marine species that have extensively been studied because of their abnormal behaviors in the marine environment compared to other marine creatures. Many of the seahorse species have large ranges, both longitudinally (over a great horizontal distance across the ocean), and latitudinal (great vertical distance within the ocean), regardless of the fact that they are characterized as weak swimmers and lack any large structural fins for efficient swimming (Lourie et al., 1999a). Although they do have these large range environments, seahorses
Paul, Gregory S. (2002). "Looking for the True Bird Ancestor". Dinosaurs of the Air: The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 171–224. ISBN 0-8018-6763-0.
The Atlantic Puffin mates and raises its young in a burrow, usually in the soil between the rocks on steep, ocean-facing cliffs. By nesting in remote locations, the puffin avoids predator detection. These burrows are usually about three feet in length and are curved. In the back of the burrow, the parents make a nest of grasses, leaves and feathers for their young. Occasionally, the nest is left unlined. Often, puffins with designate a specific location for a bathroom. This is usually placed at the bend of the curved burrow. In an effort to keep their young unsoiled, the parents regularly clean the nest.
will make you think, for example, the Penguin is put into a Zoo as a
These penguins lived after the Castastrophic event “Cretaceuous” that demolished the dinosaurs and many other species. Based on the DNA analyses and avaiable evidence of modern birds, we think the modern bird- lineages, including penguins, some how managed to survive through the Cretaceuous. Also it’s not shocking these fossils were found in New Zeland. The South Pacific and Southern oceans were free of predatory mammals, had abundant food, and had space for Penguins to breed. But the Southern Pacific is not the only area where Penguins inhabit. Many of modern penguins “Aptrenodytes” are located in the Antarctic. Recenelty it was discovered that there was a over looked feature on the surface of the fossil penguins flipper bone. These grooves were easily missed because the look was similar to tendons and muscles in the same area. It was discovered that these grooves were blood vessels that make up a counter current heat exchanger called “humeral arterial plexus” which allows penguins to limit the heat loss through the flippers. Also it helped Penguins maintain their core body temperature in cold water allowing them to survive long journeys in the cold waters. Although Penguins have luckily been able develop these traits to survive the dramatic shifts in climate, the world population can not mistake their success as resilience towards global warming.
Every new zealand native animal are unique and have no similar animals in the world the same, we have the kiwi, and is the only of its kind and there is 3 to 5 different kiwi kind, and there's the kaka witch is one of its own
After watching March of the Penguins I was browsing the internet while I was trying to figure out which direction to take the essay in, because there were too many possibilities for the topic. Soon I found myself watching Monty Python, when the perfect sketch to start this paper on comes on. A newspaper reporter comes on saying "Penguins, yes penguins what relevance do penguins have with the furtherance of medical science? Well strangely enough quite a lot" He moves into a joke about research not being accidental. Then he picks up of the penguins "Nevertheless scientists believe that these penguins, these comic flightless web-footed little b@$#ards are un-wittingly helping man to fathom the uncharted depths of the human mind." The news cast flips to the scientist who introduces himself then states "...having been working on the theory postulated by the late Dr. Kramer that the penguin in intrinsically more intelligent than the human being." From there a multitude of science spoofs lead to the confirmation of this theory of penguins being smarter, even though it is clearly pointed out that the penguin's brain is smaller than of a human being. This causes the penguins to rise up and take over the roles of humans. After careful consideration I decided to discuss this clip as there really is no better way to introduce how animals are used in film as entertainment. Whether it is a crazy Monty Python sketch or the heartwarming love story that is March of the Penguins both were created for many reasons, but the most influential was the desire to earn money. For now just keep Monty Python on the back burner it will have significance later, lets shift to dealing with the questions being posed about March of the Penguins. How did March o...
As scientists, we have come to this island to observe the evolution of finches when forced into an unfamiliar habitat with a changing food supply.
The platypus is covered with a thick water-resistant fur, excluding its bill and feet. It’s body it streamlined, has short limbs and webbed forefeet to propel itself through water using an alternative kicking motion. The webs on the for...
“And all the children who came to the zoo could see Tango and her two fathers playing in the penguin house…” (Richardson). This scene comes from the children’s book, And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell. This excerpt briefly tells that the theme of this story is about an unorthodox family structure that consists of a homosexual couple. Richard and Parnell use this picture book aimed for four to eight year olds to simply describe the real love story of two penguins, Silo and Roy, who can be found in New York’s Central Park Zoo. “Roy and Silo are both boys. However, they did everything together,” like a couple would do and they, “didn’t spend much time with the girl penguins.” When mating season came, they built a nest and tried to hatch an egg, but obviously, that was impossible. The zookeeper noticed this and brought Silo and Roy an egg from another couple that would not be able to take care of both the eggs they had. Eventually, Silo and Roy hatch a beautiful chick which the zookeeper named Tango; this created their little happy family.
"New Zealand Culture - Maori." New Zealand Travel and New Zealand Business. Tourism New Zealand, 2011. Web. 23 Apr. 2012. .
Peregrine falcons are found in every single part of the world except Antarctica. They were