#snares island penguins
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could you do penguins? any species is ok
Penguins. Written by Bernard Stonehouse. Illustrated by Trevor Boyer. 1979.
#birds#penguins#emperor penguins#snares island penguins#adelie penguins#gentoo penguins#fairy penguins#chinstrap penguins#yellow-eyed penguins#erect-crested penguins#peruvian penguins#Trevor Boyer#replies#requests#anonymous
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Samuel Page - Penguin rookery on Snares Island. From the album: [1907 Sub-Antarctic Expedition]; circa 1908; North, W.
#Samuel Page#Snares Islands#1907 Sub-Antarctic Islands Scientific Expedition#gelatin silver print#expedition
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While not in any immediate danger, the Snares penguin's breeding range is a handful of small islands near New Zealand. Unlike most other crested penguins, pairs incubate both of the eggs they lay, though only the stronger chick will survive.
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Legends and myths about trees
Penguins of the forests - Trees that protect the penguins in New Zealand
Snares penguins live in a surprising habitat, waddling the trees of the New Zealand forest. Penguins are often thought as living in ice and snow, in fact, 60,000 Snares living benease these trees. So, why are they here? New Zealand has no native land preditors. It is safe to nurturing their youngs. So these trees are penguins sanctuary. The woodland is a pengins paradise.
The Snares penguin is often compared to the Fiordland penguin, which is related by the genus of crested penguins. The Fiordland penguin is also endemic to New Zealand. The Maori word for the penguin is ‘Tawaki’, which is derived from a Maori god.
There are other forest-dwelling penguin species endemic to New Zealand.
The yellow-eyed penguins, known by the Maori people as ‘hoiho’, the world's rarest penguin species—and perhaps also the shyest—inhabits dense coastal forests and hilly shrubland of the South Island, as well as a far-flung collection of uninhabited islands, most reachable only by boat through epically rough seas.
The little penguin, also known as the fairy penguin, is the smallest species of penguin, measuring about 36-43 cm (14-17 inch) in length and weighing about 1 kg (2.2lb). Unlike other penguins, the little penguin does not walk upright, but rather in a slightly forward leaning posture. This makes them the most primitive type of penguin.
Apparently, these forest penguins lived in the forest long before human settlement.
木にまつわる伝説・神話
森に住むペンギンたち 〜 ニュージーランドのペンギンを守る木々
ハシブトペンギン (ｽﾈｱｽﾞﾍﾟﾝｷﾞﾝ)たちは、ニュージーランドの森の木々をよちよち歩きながら、意外なところに生息している。ペンギンは氷や雪の中で暮らしていると思われがちだが、実は6万羽のハシブトペンギンがそれらの木々の恩恵を受けて暮らしている。では、なぜ彼らはここにいるのか？ニュージーランドには在来種の陸上捕食者がいない。子供たちを育てるには安全な場所である。だから、その木々はペンギンの聖地なのだ。森はペンギンのパラダイスだ。
ハシブトペンギン (ｽﾈｱｽﾞﾍﾟﾝｷﾞﾝ) は、クレステッドペンギン属のキユマペンギン (ﾌｨﾖﾙﾄﾞﾗﾝﾄﾞﾍﾟﾝｷﾞﾝ) とよく比較される。
他にも、ニュージーランド固有種の森に住むペンギンの仲間はいる。
マオリ族に「ホイホ」と呼ばれるキンメペンギンは、世界で最も希少なペンギン種で、おそらく最も人見知りなペンギンでもある。南島の密林の海岸や丘陵の低木地帯、そして遠く離れた無人島に生息し、荒波にもまれながら、船で行くしか近づく手段がない。
コビトペンギンは、ペンギンの中では最も小さい種類であり、体長は約36-43cm、体重は約1kgである。
どうやら、彼ら森のペンギンたちは、人類が入植するずっと以前から森に住んでいたようだ。
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For the fanfic director’s cut: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I was going to respond seriously to this, but when I went to find the appropriate googledoc, the googledoc I had open already was "Penguins (A Divine Quest, Probably)", the planning doc for the D&D 5e campaign I ideated by never ran (yet). The premise is: all players are penguins in a post-apocalyptic world in which nuclear radiation a) returned magic to the world and b) made penguins sentient and gave them mild tactile telekinesis, ie, the ability to manipulate (moderately lightweight) objects with their mind while physically touching them (to avoid issues like 'no thumbs' and 'average penguin is about 3ft tall and minimal strength'.)
So I'll share my list of species correlations instead, including reasoning:
Great Penguins
Emperor - BIG BOYS (36-37kg), no nests - Goliath
King - lorge (15ish kg), chicks grow slowly, yellow feather “crown”, deep divers, common - Minotaur
Brush-Tailed Penguins
Adelie- medium (5ish kg), particularly cold-resistant, line nests with stones, common - Elf
Chinstrap - 5ish kg, pretty (says this site), nest on slopes, common - Half-elf
Gentoo - standardish penguins? 5+a bit kg, Antarctic continent + islands, like crab, common - Human
Little Penguins
Little - SMOLEST CHILDES (1ish kg), nocturnal, common - Svartniblin
Fairy - ditto smol and habitat?? - Gnome
Banded Penguins
Galapagos - smol! (2ish kg), equatorial (very good in heat) - Halfling
African - 3ish kg, burrow much, used to warmer (African) weather - Dwarrow-Dwarf
Humboldt - 5-a bit kg, burrow some, occupy cold Peruvian current but hot (desert/Mediterranean) breeding site. Fucked by El Nino some years - Mountain Dwarf
Magellanic - 5-a bit kg, burrow breeders, ~ African but South American - Hill Dwarf
Large Divers
Yellow-eyed - 5.5ish kg, maybe rarest penguin, nest in plants - Aasimar
[EXTINCT] Waitaha
Crested Penguins
Rockhopper (Southern, Eastern, Northern) - 2.5ish kg, red eyes, tiny but fierce - Goblin
Snares - 3ish kg, endemic to Snares Islands, kill forest with guano quantity, yellow eyebrows - Hobgoblin
Fiordland - 4ish kg, endemic to New Zealand rainforests - Half-orc
Macaroni - 5+a bit kg, don’t Land much when not breeding, weird orange hair - Kobold
Erect-crested - 5ish kg, tall crests (~horns!) - Tiefling
Royal - 5+a bit kg, related to Macaroni probably (yellow hair), nest in open. Standardish - Dragonborn
[EXTINCT] Chatham
Humans = giants, 1 enclave per type
Other birds (terns, mostly? not albatross? Must really live there) arakockra
Genasi may be done as a half-heritage thing, ie, half genasi, half established race
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The crested penguins of New Zealand. In Maori they are called “Tawaki”. Belonging to the genus Eudyptes, they are the Fiordland penguin (E. Pachyrhynchus), the Snares (E. Robustus) and the Erect-crested (E. sclateri).
Due to how closely related they are, it is debated whether they are a single species with three subspecies, or three distinct species. It’s difficult to tell them apart since they are so similar.
above: the fiordland penguin
Unlike the other two species, the fiordland penguin has small white stripes underneath its eyes, and has no bare skin around its beak. Like the snares penguin, its crest (the yellow eyebrows) does not stand up. This penguin is known for swimming very far for food. These chaps nest in forests.
above: snares penguin
the snares penguin looks almost exactly like the fiordland penguin, but it lacks the white stripes below its eyes, and has a bare area of skin around the beak. The fellows breed on the Snares Islands.
this is the erect-crested penguin. Like the snares penguin, it has a bare area of skin around its beak. Unlike the other two species, it has a crest that stands up, hence the name. These guys only breed on the Bounty and Antipode islands.
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March 23, 2020 - Snares Penguin, Snares Crested Penguin, or Snares Islands Penguin (Eudyptes robustus)
These penguins are found in the Snares Islands of New Zealand. They feed on krill, squid, and small fish, often diving to depths of 85 feet (25 meters) while fishing near the coast in groups of as many as 20 birds. Breeding in colonies, pairs usually build cup-shaped nests from twigs, rocks, and mud. Both parents take turns incubating the eggs and both feed the chicks, which gather in large nurseries of hundreds.
#snares penguin#snares crested penguin#snares islands penguin#penguin#eudyptes robustus#bird#birds#illustration#art#water#birblr art
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The untamed beauty of the Snares Islands/Tini Heke. Snares crested penguins and New Zealand fur seals/kekeno.
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its time for penguins
first up is the blue penguin aka “i cant believe its not baby” these are the smallest penguin species an believe it or not this is an adult one
next up is one everyone knows, the emperor penguin, these are the largest species currently alive
next up is the snares penguin aka eyebrows, this species is named after the snares islands where they nest to mate
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Snares crested penguins, endemic to the Snares islands just south of Aotearoa. The spectacle of their comings and goings on the rocky shores is an introduction to our subantarctic region for many visitors! We did the trip backwards, so this time they were our farewell from this wild realm. #birdventurenz #thebrillianceofbirds #nzbirds #your_best_birds #conservationphotography #conservationphotographer #nuts_about_birds #bird_brilliance #birds_adored @docgovtnz @forestandbird @nz_birds @nikonnz #nikond500 #nikon #birdphotography #feathered_perfection #aotearoa #subantarctic #seabird #penguin #penguinstagram #extinctionisforever #endangeredspecies #bird_lovers_daily #bird_lovers #nature_brilliance #eathcaptures #wilderness #explore #adventure #fieldbiology #fieldbiologist https://www.instagram.com/p/B9Z0SLxJBtf/?igshid=byhhs67fc34b
#birdventurenz#thebrillianceofbirds#nzbirds#your_best_birds#conservationphotography#conservationphotographer#nuts_about_birds#bird_brilliance#birds_adored#nikond500#nikon#birdphotography#feathered_perfection#aotearoa#subantarctic#seabird#penguin#penguinstagram#extinctionisforever#endangeredspecies#bird_lovers_daily#bird_lovers#nature_brilliance#eathcaptures#wilderness#explore#adventure#fieldbiology#fieldbiologist
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Interlude
Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader
Summary: After being separated for months, you take Bucky to Central Park on Christmas Eve to show him all the sights he missed in the last 70 years.
(For @bitchassbucky ‘s Holiday Writing Challenge! Thank you!)
Prompt: It’s snowing/raining and my hands are cold, so I’m gonna stuff them inside your jacket pocket.
Warnings: Mild angst, slightly unreliable narrator
Note: This can be read as a standalone or as part of the Devil’s Backbone series.
Word Count: 3k
AO3
The wet pavement crunched under your boots, damp from the snow that had been salted and washed away. Locals and tourists alike were free to traverse the sidewalks without fear of falling and bruising tailbones.
Not that you were in any danger of falling. Bucky had his arm looped around yours so tightly you felt your fingers starting to tingle from lack of circulation.
“We’re fine,” you reassured him for the fifth time since you’d left Stark Tower—or the Avengers Tower, as it was now colloquially called. “No one’s looking, no one cares.”
The unyielding angle of Bucky’s jaw told you he didn’t agree, his blue eyes wide and watchful as he scanned the busy streets for signs of danger.
You gave an impatient, fond huff and pulled him along. You were freezing and you wanted to finish your outing and make it back to the tower before it started snowing. Judging by the grey pregnancy of the low-hanging clouds, you doubted that would be a wish fulfilled.
“This isn’t a good idea,” he grumbled, keeping his head dipped down so his eyes were covered by the rim of his black ball cap. “In fact, it’s a stupid one.”
“We can’t stay cooped up forever,” you said with a gentle nudge of your arm. “And if you hover over Tony much longer he’s going to sic Dum-E on you.”
“Like to see him try,” he muttered under his breath. Despite the gruff and snark he doled out in equal measure, you could feel the tension in his arm ease. You were clinging to the right one, of course, as Bucky insisted he keep his left free and ready for any eventuality.
His paranoia wasn’t completely unfounded. He may have been exonerated, but there were still people out there who had unfinished business with the former Winter Soldier. National governments with grievances against HYDRA and looking for a scapegoat, not to mention surviving cells within the organization. Pierce had been only one head of HYDRA, and the rest were proving difficult to flush out of hiding.
And of course, there was Rumlow. That particular bastard had been hanging over your head like a black cloud ever since he had escaped from the burn unit months earlier.
You shivered, instinctively moving closer to Bucky’s side. He glanced down at you, a frown touching his lips, and he only hesitated a moment before placing his arm around your shoulders.
The warmth of his touch did wonders to chase away the chill that had nothing to do with the wintery air.
The expanse of Central Park soon lay before you, everything coated in white from the bare limbs of the trees to the wide footpaths. Dozens of ice-skaters had already taken to the Wollman Rink. Red and green and blue parkas stood in contrast to the stark landscape, the skaters circling like colorful ducks on a frozen pond.
But it wasn’t the people below you were watching, it was Bucky. The taut muscles of his face had gone lax, his eyes distant and far away with the interlude of memory.
“We used to go skating, me and Becca. Not here, this place didn’t exist, but on the Lake.” He slightly tilted his head, one corner of his mouth turning upward. “Steve was too delicate back then, couldn’t skate with us. Besides, with how many layers he would be wrapped in, he woulda looked like a penguin waddling on the ice.”
When you remained quiet, he flicked his gaze downward and found you already watching him.
“What?” he asked, moving his left gloved hand through his hair in a sheepish gesture.
“Nothing.” The little smile on your face couldn’t seem to disappear, even when you tried to squirrel it away. “Come on.”
You led him down the paths deeper into the park. With the previous day’s snowfall, everything was covered in a gentle blanket of white, looking every bit like you were in the middle of a fairytale.
Bucky had a deeply traumatic relationship with the cold, which was why you checked on him frequently, but his blue eyes were round with delight, not terror, as he took in the sight of the winter wonderland. Something loosened within you and you breathed a little easier, but you were ready to abort the mission at the first hint of panic.
Soon you were at the Carousel, nestled inside a squat brick building. You were relieved to see it was open—not because you thought Bucky would ever go for a ride, but because you wanted to see his reaction to the historical attraction.
As the ride came to a halt and the current riders began to disembark, he edged closer to the edge of the path, his head tilted at that curious angle again as he looked through the snow-covered foliage to the open windows.
“This… this is different. But also familiar? Am I… misremembering this?” He sounded unsure, his brows pulled into deep creases as his lips formed into a pout.
“Nope.” You slightly lifted your chin, unable to keep the slight pride out of your voice. “The carousel you remember burned down in 1950. This one used to be in a trolley terminal in Coney Island until they moved it here in 1951.”
The way his face lit up, his eyes brightening as his eyebrows shot up, made the whole trip worthwhile.
“The West 5th Street Depot! I remember it!” he said, a slow but excited grin blooming on his lips. “I miss those noisy old streetcars. Steve and I used to…” He trailed off, the lightness of his expression slowly vanishing, as if it had never been there to begin with.
“What?” you asked, suddenly afraid you had triggered an unpleasant recollection. You knew strolling down memory lane was a risk, but you’d thought the benefits would have outweighed the negatives. Now, you weren’t so sure.
Bucky turned toward you, but instead of his face being drawn and pale, he wore a self-conscious grimace.
“Here I am, going on and on about the past, when…” He haltered again and teethed at his bottom lip. You knew it was a nervous gesture, but it always made you a little hot under the collar. This time was no exception.
“What?” you prompted, forcibly pulling your gaze up to his eyes. “What is it? Something wrong?”
He shook his head with a rueful pull at his mouth.
“That’s just it.”
Bucky reached down and took your left hand in his right, looping his fingers through yours. The unexpected gesture made your heart sing like a bird.
“Nothing’s wrong.” His eyes softened, and you didn’t miss the flush of his cheeks. “Everything is… good. Too good to be true.”
Clearing your throat, you shook your head and said, “I haven’t even showed you the best part yet.”
His brows rose in a dubious slant. “That right?”
“Mmhmm.” You pulled your bottom lip between your teeth as you smiled. His gaze dropped toward your mouth, and the heat of his stare was enough to melt all of Wollman Rink.
With your hand still in his, you tugged playfully, pulling him after you. “It’s not far!”
Bucky’s lips were pressed into a deliberate line, but the laughter was bright in his eyes, unobscured by troubled memories or moments of self-doubt, and he tagged along after you quite willingly.
It was only when you were within sight of the skating rink that he slowed his pace, forcing you to shorten your own footsteps. You turned back to tease him for being such an old man, but the words died on your lips.
Bucky’s eyes were fixed on the frozen surface. You had been at a safe distance before but were much closer now, and you didn’t think you were imagining the pale shade of his skin.
“No skating,” you said, preemptively and firmly. When he appeared unconvinced, his jaw as tight as a snare, you wrapped your arm around his waist, purposefully pulling his focus to you. It worked; Bucky hard-swallowed but met your gaze, his eyes slightly wide.
“Promise.” You slightly squeezed him against your side. “You’re gonna like this.”
Bucky simply nodded his head, the implicit trust in his eyes more meaningful than any words he could have said.
With a small smile still on your lips and your gloved fingers still intertwined with his, you led him up a curve in the path to a small concession stand. Baby blue wood with painted white trim, it looked like something from a bygone era, much like the man standing next to you.
The smell wafting toward the cart, however, was familiar to you both. By the time you had finished waiting in line and both took your cups of hot cocoa, Bucky had gone red around the ears, no doubt remembering the last time the two of you had shared hot chocolate. The vivid memory forced you to duck your head and focus very closely on your steaming cup.
There were children around for Christ’s sake.
Still without saying a word, you carefully hooked your right arm around his left. Even through the thick fabric of his sleeve, you imagined you could still feel the cold titanium underneath.
Bucky eyed you out of the corner of his vision, his gaze reproachful but immediately forgotten when you pulled him down to sit beside you on a bench cleared of snow.
The view was impeccable, on a slight hill overlooking the rink, and beyond was the tree line with the grey clouds and skyscrapers framing the background. Even in the dreariness you could see the hulking outline of the Avengers Tower, rising and disappearing into the cloud cover like a dream.
“Wow,” Bucky breathed out, capturing your sentiment of the view perfectly. Except you weren’t looking at the skyline.
“Right?”
He turned his head and caught you staring, but all you offered in response to his raised brow was a half-shrug and a mischievous little smile as you tucked back into your cocoa.
As you sat in comfortable silence, just far enough from the rink for the sound of laughter and voices to be muffled and distant, it began to snow. Crisp flakes drifted down, just to immediately melt on the bend of your knee. The soft whiteness of the world around you was a comfort and brought up only fond memories. You wished that were the case for Bucky.
Despite his warm jacket, a tremor ran down his shoulders. You switched the cup to your left hand, and without hesitation, plunged your right deep into his jacket pocket.
Bucky gave a start, opened his mouth, and then closed it promptly when you pulled yourself closer, purposefully melting into the curve of his side.
“It’s snowing, I’m cold, and you don’t need this pocket. Thought I would grab it for myself.” A smirk pulled at your lips and you added, “Unless you want to share.”
Bucky’s deer-in-the-headlights expression would have been funny if it hadn’t tugged at your heartstrings so fiercely.
He brushed the tip of his tongue over his lips—you still couldn’t figure out if he knew the effect it had—and his Adam’s apple plunged as he swallowed.
“All yours.”
His cheeks had a ruddy tinge to them by time he averted his eyes and turned back to his steaming drink.
Despite your teasing, sticking your hand in his pocket and sidling up to him was as far as you were planning to go. It had been a while since… Well, your feelings hadn’t changed, but they might have on his end. Bucky had been on the run for months, and your time together before that could be counted in hours.
A very intense time, as short as it had been. A time when you had gotten to know the Winter Soldier almost as well as you’d gotten to know Bucky Barnes, and you couldn’t lie and say it hadn’t been a hell of a rough beginning.
You could also say you were moving slow for his benefit, and you were, but you also didn’t know how to bridge that divide created by time and distance.
Apparently, Bucky did.
He spoke your name, softly but without any of his previous nervousness. When you turned your head, opening your mouth to respond, he was right there, and you didn’t even have time to blink before his lips were on yours.
They were just as soft as you remembered, a heat behind them that could melt the deepest snows.
Hot cocoa forgotten, you parted your lips, an invitation, as you curled your fingers into his long hair.
Bucky’s strong arms were around your waist in a second, pulling you closer and lifting you into his lap. Your fingers tightened in his hair and he groaned low in his throat.
You didn’t care who saw, you’d let Bucky do whatever he wanted to you, right here in front of New York and God and whoever else wanted to watch because you needed him like you needed air, and it had been so long—
“Agent Williams?”
No, no, not now.
“Are you awake, Agent?”
No! Go away!
You rolled over onto your side, giving a frustrated groan into your pillow.
“Ah, good. Mister Stark wishes to know if you’ll be down soon. Shall I inform him that was a yes? Or a no?”
You mumbled into your pillow and realized the AI probably couldn’t understand your resentful utterances. “What time is it?”
“It’s eight thirty-six, ma’am,” Jarvis answered succinctly.
You gave another pained groan. It wasn’t his fault Tony couldn’t contain himself like a kid on Christmas… oh.
“God, right, I’ll be down in a sec.” You rubbed at your face as you pulled yourself into a sitting position. The dream clung to you like smoke and you couldn’t seem to shake it off.
“Mister Stark says, ‘If she’s not down in five minutes I’m gonna have Dum-E tear open all her presents.’ I believe he’s being serious.”
“I’m sure he is,” you answered with a tired sigh.
You got dressed while on autopilot, your thoughts drifting far away as you stared out the window at the grey morning light. It was snowing again, and a deep ache settled in your chest at the memory of snow settling into Bucky’s hair.
No, not a memory. A dream, but one so unfairly clear because it was based on a memory. You had gone through the same motions the day before… with Steve.
Not the handholding or the flirting (or God forbid, the kissing), but you had taken him to Central Park in hopes of showing him everything that had changed since he’d been there in the 40’s.
The difference between Steve and dream-Bucky’s reactions had been startlingly different. Steve had still told the story about how Bucky and his sister had skated on the lake while he had to be on the sidelines. He too had also recognized the old carousel from the trolley station.
That was where the similarities ended. Bucky’s tense vigilance had been absent from Steve’s face. Bucky’s aversion of the rink had also been fabricated in your mind; Steve hadn’t seemed to care at all, even though he too had been frozen in ice for a long, long time.
The outing with Steve had been enjoyable, especially when Sam and Nat had joined you later that evening to see the Christmas lights strung around the park, but you had never stopped thinking about the person who wasn’t there.
Even then, even when it had been eleven months since the events in D.C. and the last time you’d seen Bucky, you still looked for his face in the crowd and felt his absence in the hollow space beside you.
It had grown worse when you’d passed by the concession cart selling hot cocoa, the familiar rich sent sending you back to the safe house where you’d hidden with the man who had broken you free of HYDRA’s captivity. Bucky had only just started to emerge from the chilling persona of the Winter Soldier, and the scent of hot cocoa had been one of his first memories of his previous life as James Buchanan Barnes.
Steve had caught the pause in your step, noted the faraway look on your face, and had asked if you wanted to stop for some. You’d quickly shaken your head and moved on. It was stupid, really stupid, but you didn’t want to share that with anyone else. Not even the man who had been Bucky’s closest friend.
Eleven months with not a single sign. You’d figured out long before now that if he didn’t want to be found, he wouldn’t be. It made his absence hurt all the more.
You picked up your phone and scrolled through your messages as you did every morning. No strange or unknown numbers, just a few messages from the people waiting for you a few floors above in the common room.
T. Stark: You up yet? Im going to turn on the fire suppression system in your room
T. Stark: come on no one needs more than 6 hours of sleep get up
T. Stark: Im serious Williams your shit is my shit if you dont come up in 5
S. Rogers: Don’t worry about Tony. Take your time.
S. Wilson: Please save me from these man children
An amused smile crossed your lips before you could stop it.
There was one last message. There weren’t any words, only a single picture. Chocolate chip pancakes stacked ridiculously high, slathered in syrup and topped with sliced bananas.
You stomach immediately rumbled; Nat knew you so well.
You put your phone into your pocket, the smile slowly falling from your face. This was the first time you’d spent the holidays with people who treated you like… well, like a real family.
There was only one thing missing, and no matter how hard they tried, no one could fill the void he had left behind.
Someday, you told yourself as you left your room and crossed the hall to the elevator.
Someday, it won’t be a dream.
#abitchassholiday#bucky barnes x reader#bucky barnes fanfiction#bucky barnes#the winter soldier x reader#devil's backbone#interlude#my writing#my fanfiction#reader fanfiction#angst#not much but it hurts#im really really sorry#just really sorry
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As per usual New Zealand hoards the weird and wonderful animals.
Theres the Kakapo, there are 209 individuals as of May 2020
The 5 species Kiwis. Thanks to conservation efforts two of these were pulled from the Endangered list.
The Takahe and the Weka which are both Rails. The Takahe was considered extinct until 1948 and the the end of 2019 population numbers hit 418 individuals.
Two ducks, the Auckland Island Teal and the Campbell Island Teal.
And unexpectedly SIX Penguins Blue, Erect-crested, Fiordland, Rockhopper, Snares and Yellow-eyed
10/10/20
#vulture culture uk#vulture culture#oddities#taxidermy#bones#skull#skull collecting#animal skull#curiosities
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Ancestor of all penguins lived on Earth's 'lost' 8th continent Zealandia, fossils show
https://sciencespies.com/nature/ancestor-of-all-penguins-lived-on-earths-lost-8th-continent-zealandia-fossils-show/
Ancestor of all penguins lived on Earth's 'lost' 8th continent Zealandia, fossils show
Earth’s lost eighth continent, Zealandia, sank into the sea between 50 and 35 million years ago. Today, we know the tiny fraction of it that remains above the waves as New Zealand.
But before most of Zealandia disappeared – about 60 million years ago – ancient penguins walked upon the 2-million-square-mile continent (5.18 million square kilometres). In fact, a recent discovery has led scientists to conclude that all modern-day penguins likely descended from Zealandia’s ancient birds.
The newly identified fossils of an extinct penguin species offer a crucial, previously missing link between ancient and modern penguins.
Last month, researchers announced that they’d found a set of well-preserved 3-million-year-old fossils, including a skull and a wing bone, on New Zealand’s North Island. They identified the bones as belonging to a previously unknown species of crested penguin, which they named Eudyptes atatu.
(Jean-Claude Stahl, R. Paul Scofield/Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Canterbury Museum)
Above: Fossils of Eudyptes atatu show its key features, including a narrower beak (top left) than that of the modern-day Snares crested penguin (top right).
The finding serves as “an important clue that New Zealand might have been a biodiversity hotspot for seabirds for millions of years,” Daniel Thomas, a zoologist at Massey University and the lead author of the study, told Business Insider.
That’s far longer than researchers previously realised; earlier studies had only dated the presence of crested penguins on New Zealand back about 7,000 years, Thomas said. The new timeline suggests the region is the penguin’s most likely place of origin.
“We propose that New Zealand is likely to be where the earliest ancestor to all crested penguins lived, and where the ancestor of all penguins lived,” Thomas said.
New Zealand is the ‘seabird capital of the world’
The word atatu comes from the Māori term ata tū, which means dawn; Eudyptes refers to crested penguins – those with feathery yellow stripes above their eyes. There are between four and seven species of them alive on Earth today, depending on which taxonomist you ask.
New Zealand is home to 13 species of penguin for at least part of the year – the most of any country on Earth. More broadly, the island nation is considered the “seabird capital of the world,” according to its Department of Conservation. More than a third of its 80 native seabird species aren’t found anywhere else in the world.
The fossils from the extinct E. atatu penguin were found embedded in rock near the coastal region of Taranaki. Local collectors discovered them first, then alerted researchers at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
After their analysis found the fossils to be about 3 million years old, the researchers compared the fossils to bones of other, living crested penguin species.
Modern Fiordland crested penguin, E. pachyrhynchus. (cmfotoworks/Getty Images)
They found that the ancient penguin was fairly similar to modern-day crested penguins, though its beak was more slender.
That’s a clue it had a different diet than its modern cousins, most of whom survive mainly on small fish, krill, and crustaceans.
So E. atatu could either be an ancestor of some species of modern crested penguin, or it could be a sister species that shares a common ancestor.
The researchers fed the information from their analysis into a software program that uses data about fossils and other information to map species’ most likely origin points and migration patterns. That simulation is what led them to conclude that all modern penguins likely descended from the same Zealandia-dwelling ancestor.
Ancient penguins roamed the lost continent of Zealandia
E. atatu lived in New Zealand tens of millions of years after the rest of Zealandia sank. But the researchers think its ancestor evolved about 60 million years ago, suggesting that penguins likely once wandered the continent while the rest of its surface lay above sea level.
Zealandia. (World Data Centre for Geophysics & Marine Geology/NGDC, NOAA)
These ancient penguins may have been gigantic. In 2017, researchers found that prehistoric “mega-penguins” stood 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 220 pounds.
The majority of Zealandia, which is about half the size of Australia, now sits 3,500 feet (1,066 metres) under the sea. In addition to mega-penguins, the continent was once likely home to dinosaurs and lush rainforest.
This article was originally published by Business Insider.
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Friday Day 29 The Snares
Overnight, the ship transported us to The Snares: another of New Zealand’s wonderful Sub-Antarctic islands, but one on which it is forbidden to land. It is now feral-free and the authorities are justifiably eager to keep it that way so no human pests are allowed to land. This is to avoid the risk of us reintroducing any unwanted flora or fauna back onto the island.
Instead, we enjoyed a wonderful zodiac cruise. We cruised along very close to the shoreline for a kilometre or so as more albatrosses (and other birds) wheeled around above us, then entered another long sea-cave – this one more likely not a lava-tube. We puttered in quite a long way, getting darker and darker as we went, but then saw some light at the end of the tunnel. Turning to port (left for you landlubbers) we cruised right out into bright sunlight further along the coast and around the corner from where we started our little journey. The cave/tunnel itself was quite interesting with mainly green walls and ceiling but also reds and browns from different types of algae.
We followed along the coast, exploring several tiny inlets as we went, then rounded another corner into a colony of Snares Crested Penguins, accompanied by 20 or 30 Seals and Sea-lions, lazing around on the rocks and ogling the strange new species drifting past them on the water. A group of 3 Fur-seals seemed to be having some sort of violent altercation in the water near our zodiac. Maybe they were just playing, but they were splashing and leaping and diving and lunging at each other for several minutes before they resolved their differences – or took their fight further away from us.
Dan thought one of the most distant penguins looked a bit different from the others but eventually concluded that they were all the same. But some of my photos subsequently proved him wrong. A single bird on the extreme right of the colony was an Erect-crested Penguin, the only one anyone saw anywhere on the voyage.
We cruised further around the bay and saw some more great birds – Auckland Island Shags and Black-billed, Red-billed and White-fronted Terns, several lovely Tuis, numerous unique all-black Auckland Island Tomtits, a few Fernbirds and lots of Bellbirds. Most of them let us get relatively (or very) close to them and then there were the Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses with their strange eye patterns – two Adults and two chicks, all together on a ledge not far out of our reach - but the surprising thing is that the adults were not the parents of the chicks. They were a courting pair and it was wonderful to watch them dancing and bill-clacking before going off to do some formation flying that was great to watch. They were joined by a third Sooty (apparently quite common) and it was like synchronised swimming in the air as they swooped and glided and wheeled and soared as if joined by invisible threads. The chicks were close to fledging and their parents were nowhere to be seen, but would presumably be back to feed the chicks after we left the area. We saw a few more Seals and Sea-lions before returning to the ship across some challenging sea but it had been an exceptionally wonderful and educational couple of hours of nature study. And to top it all off, there was the most spectacular rainbow over the ship as we returned for showers and lunch.
According to my notes, during the afternoon, they screened an interesting documentary, but unfortunately, I didn’t record what it was about. I am pretty sure it was a nature doco, but beyond that……
And after dinner, the woman who ran the music quiz a couple of nights earlier did a similar one. She apparently does these quite regularly at home so had another one all cued up on her PC and Heather and I went to this one. There were four teams and the final scores were something like 120, 100, 99.5 and 99 with only half a point separating the non-winners. Both the female cops were in the winning team (as they had been for the previous quiz) and our team came third. One of the cops’ husband (interesting question as to where the apostrophe should be in cop’s’ – I am sure he was only married to one of them!) was on our team and shouted out the answers to several questions so everyone got them right – he is a very extroverted accountant and you just can’t trust accountants!
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A Snares crested penguin on Enderby Island, off the southern coast of New Zealand. A subspecies of crested penguin on the Chatham Islands, east of New Zealand, was probably eaten to extinction by humans. Credit: Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket, via Getty Images
Excerpt from this New York Times story:
For thousands of years, penguins have darted through the waters of the southern oceans, chasing fish and surfacing to nest on islands and landmasses sprinkled from the Galápagos to the Antarctic. Today there are around 20 penguin species, ranging from the playful Adelie to the stately Emperor. But there once were other penguins, including a previously unknown subspecies of dwarf yellow-eyed penguin in New Zealand.
You won’t be seeing it any time soon. It’s extinct, apparently wiped out by humans hundreds of years ago.
“We suspect that these Megadyptes penguins were on their way to becoming a full new species,” said Theresa Cole, a graduate student at University of Otago in New Zealand and co-author of a paper about this bird and another newly discovered extinct subspecies of crested penguin. “But they just didn’t get a chance, because people ate them.”
Ms. Cole and her colleagues sequenced DNA from many penguin species and built a family tree of the waddling birds living and dead. The resulting research, published Tuesday in the journal Molecular and Biological Evolution, led to the discovery of these two subspecies. It also suggests that the same island environments that resulted in such diversity in the penguin family can also be linked to doom for some as they eventually came into contact with hungry human settlers.
“Throughout the southern hemisphere, in particular in the Pacific, penguin populations are declining,” said Ms. Cole. “Pretty much all of the penguins that are endemic to New Zealand are faced with various threats including fishing, and pollution, and warming sea surface temperatures, and competition with humans, dogs eating penguins, habitat fragmentation. Even though humans aren’t eating them anymore, there are other impacts that will keep driving them to extinction.”
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Penguins have inhabited the earth for millennia. The flightless, monochrome birds exist today in 17 extant species’, but the modern penguin is a very different breed to the creatures which once shared the earth with the dinosaurs. Fossils indicate that the oldest relative of the penguin existed around 66 million years ago, and became flightless just after the mass extinction which wiped out almost all life on earth.
A recent study of one fossilised ancestor, from roughly 57 million years ago, suggests that this penguin would have been 5 foot, 7 inches tall – dwarfing today’s largest species, the Emperor Penguin, which stands at just four foot. Pre-historic penguins may also have been far more widespread than they are now, with as many as four different species’ inhabiting South Africa alone.
However, there is one ancient species of penguin, discovered in four fragments of bone, which scientists now know never existed at all. The Hunter Island Penguin was ‘discovered’ on the Australian island in the early 1980’s, and declared an extinct taxon of the bird family. However, recent advancements in DNA testing have allowed researchers to debunk this theory. Tests show that the four ‘Hunter Island Penguin’ bones are actually from three different species’ of penguin: the Fiordland crested penguin, Snares crested penguin, and Little Blue Penguin.
Using scientific advancements like these can help the scientific community to understand more about not only fossilised penguins, but the modern species’ whose conservation is becoming increasingly threatened.
Images: (1) Shocked April Fools GIF via GIPHY. (2) Slippery Ice GIF via GIPHY.
#Animal of the Month#AOTM#penguins#dinosaurs#fossils#science#birds#DNA#Molecular Biology and Evolution#Journals
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