#ecology

Penguin Glossary: Fast Ice, Krill, Moult, and More

Penguin news and research often use small-looking terms that decide whether penguins can breed, feed, moult, and be protected.

6/3

Krill Oil vs Antarctic Penguins: Hotspots, MSC, and Algae Oil

Krill oil pressure is about where fishing concentrates: Antarctic Peninsula hotspots overlap chick-rearing foraging areas, while health benefits do not clearly beat alternatives.

4/23

Penguin Guano From Space: Satellites Finding Antarctic Colonies

Satellites find emperor penguin colonies by reading guano stains on white sea ice, turning brown pixels into maps of breeding sites and sea-ice risk.

4/15

Penguin Voice Recognition: How King Penguins Find Family

King penguins have no fixed nest, so returning adults must pick family out of massive colonies using two-voice acoustic fingerprints.

4/8

Penguin Microsleep: Ten Thousand Four-Second Naps a Day

Brooding chinstrap penguins accumulate about 11.4 hours of sleep each day, but split it into more than ten thousand four-second microsleeps.

4/2

Penguin Diving Physiology: 564 Meters and a 6-Beat Heart

Emperor penguins reach 564 meters and can stay down 27.6 minutes by slowing the heart, redirecting blood flow, and storing oxygen in myoglobin-rich muscle.

3/30

Penguin Catastrophic Moult: Why They Replace Feathers at Once

Catastrophic moult leaves penguins unable to swim or feed for 2 to 4 weeks, so the whole annual cycle depends on fat stores and a safe window on land or ice.

3/22

H5N1 in Antarctica: Avian Flu Risks for Penguin Colonies

H5N1 has moved from South Georgia to the Antarctic Peninsula, where dense colonies, little immune history, and migrating seabirds create a new disease risk.

3/15

Penguin Courtship and Breeding: Stone Nests, Voice Recognition, and Incubation Shifts

Penguin courtship begins with posture, calls, and stones, but the real test comes in incubation shifts and chick-rearing; under the romantic surface is a cooperative system that cannot afford mistakes.

3/8

Penguin Thermoregulation: -40°C Huddles and Tropical Heat

Penguin thermoregulation runs in two directions: emperor penguins conserve heat in -40°C huddles, while African and Galapagos penguins work to shed it.

2/28

The Antarctic Food Chain and Penguins: Krill, Sea Ice, and Leopard Seals

The Antarctic food chain is not a single-line penguin story; krill, sea ice, fish, seals, and whales together decide what penguins eat, and who eats penguins.

2/18

Why Penguins Can't Fly: The Evolutionary Trade Written in Wings

Penguins did not simply lose useful wings; they traded flight for underwater propulsion, a 60-million-year shift visible from Waimanu to modern emperors.

2/8

How Climate Change Affects Penguins: Sea Ice, Krill, and the Chain Reaction of Breeding Failure

Climate change first alters sea ice, krill, and heavy rain, then changes penguin foraging distance, breeding timing, and chick survival; population decline is usually the last result we notice.

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