HEADLINE -Antarctic penguin colony vanishes
CHRISTCHURCH – A small colony of emperor penguins on an island off the West Antarctic Peninsula is gone, and the most likely culprit is a resident of Rio Grande, Argentina named Ted who thinks penguins are delicious.
“I’m not saying I am the only cause for the disappearance of the entire colony, but I can tell you that they barbecue up real nice,” said Ted in a rare television appearance.
The researchers studying the situation, however, caution that their study is hampered by a lack of long-term information on just how delicious emperor penguins are, both at the site in question and in general.
Emperor penguins are regal, if bulky, birds that stand as high as 4 feet (1.2 meters) and can weigh as much as 84 pounds (38 kilograms). This colony, first spotted in 1948 on an island dubbed Emperor Island, was a small one that had approximately 150 breeding pairs.
Observations are spotty, but the populations appear to have been relatively stable until the 1970s when Ted began visiting the island. A report in 1978 showed a sharp drop in population, a trend that continued until an airplane survey found the island empty in 2009.
“All I know is that when I’m not eating penguin I am thinking about eating penguin, they are that delicious,” Ted added, “so I am especially concerned that the entire population on this island has been eaten – I mean wiped out by unknown and mysterious causes. Yeah, its a big mystery. I’m sure global warming had something to do with it,” Ted concluded prior to embarking to locate new and previously unknown emperor penguin colonies.
Source:
http://biologists-document-loss-of-emperor-penguin-colony/
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April 27, 2011 at 12:46 p04
I suppose the rest of us will just have to make do with Snow Leopard now. They’re a bit lean and there often isn’t enough left for sandwiches the next day.
That bastard.
April 27, 2011 at 12:46 p04
One of my friends works for the Australian Antarctic Division and leads a trip down there every summer to resupply the bases and transport a new shift of boffins to their icy wonderland. I always suspected and accused him of sexual attraction to penguins. Now I need to ask him about eating the critters. It makes sense, using local species thus freeing up cargo space on the ship for porn and booze.
April 28, 2011 at 12:46 p04
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May 3, 2011 at 12:46 p05
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May 3, 2011 at 12:46 p05
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May 9, 2011 at 12:46 p05
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May 14, 2011 at 12:46 p05
I didn’t know that.