Penguin-Pedia: Photographs and Facts from One Man's Search for the Penguins of the World

David Inc. Salomon

Description

An exhaustive resource for penguin-o-philes, amateur and academic alike, Penguin-Pedia unites careful analysis of the behavior, habitat, reproduction, feeding habits, and population levels of all seventeen penguin species with the author s personal observations and reflections. Each chapter draws on a wealth of scientific data and reports, as well as providing detailed measurements and weights of penguins from various colonies and nests. An extensive bibliography will direct students of the penguin to scholarly books and journals, while dozens of full-color photographs of penguins in their natural habitat and personal accounts provide entertainment for the layman. A full directory of penguin exhibiting zoos from around the world completes this source of all things penguin.

Sujets

• Loisirs
• Collections photographiques
• Photographie Créative
• Polar Regions
• Travel

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 21 février 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781622093977
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Penguin-Pedia
David Salomon

Brown Books Publishing Group Dallas, Texas
© 2011 David Salomon
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Penguin-Pedia: Photographs and Facts from One Man’s Search for the Penguins of the World
Brown Books Publishing Group 16250 Knoll Trail, Suite 205 Dallas, Texas 75248
www.BrownBooks.com
[phone]
ISBN (print) 978-1-61254-015-3
ISBN (ebook) 978-1-62209-397-7
Library of Congress Control Number 2011932108
Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For more information, please visit www.Penguin-Pedia.com or www.Facebook.com/PenguinPedia .
Contents
Acknowledgments
The Penguin Family
Where to Find a Penguin
Penguin History and Research
Emperor
King
African
Galapagos
Humboldt
Magellanic
Yellow-eyed
Little
Adélie
Chinstrap
Gentoo
Erect-crested
Fiordland
Macaroni
Rockhopper
Royal
Snares
The Penguin Body: The Amazing Machine
Where to Find a Penguin in a Zoo or in the Wild
Glossary
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
T his book could not have been conceived without the cooperation of all seventeen penguin species. I cannot remember how many times I was thinking to myself, "What would happen if I reached the other side of the world and the penguins were simply not there?" Yet on every trip, I found them just where they were supposed to be, doing what they normally do and in many cases modeling for me. It was as if they tried to assist me with the book.
I am grateful to the following researchers, scientists, and penguin lovers who took the time to review all the different chapters and make sure all my facts were correct. These wonderful people are: Dr. Michaël Beaulieu (Adélie, Emperor, and Penguin Body); Dr. Jessica Kemper (African); Dr. Andres Barbosa (Chinstrap); Mr. Dave Houston (Erect-crested, Snares); Dr. Jan Murie (Fiordland); Dr. Hernan Vargas (Galapagos); Dr. Heather Lynch (Gentoo); Dr. Roberta Wallace (Humboldt); Dr. Klemens Pütz (King, Rockhopper); Dr. Phillip Seddon (Little); Dr. Jonathan Green (Macaroni); Dr. Marcelo Bertellotti (Magellanic); Dr. Rory Wilson (Magellanic); Dr. Cindy Hull (Royal); and Dr. Hiltrun Ratz (Yellow-eyed).
The following people and organizations assisted in my research and photography or provided me with invaluable information: Dr. Robert Crawford, Dr. Peter Dann, Dr. Eric Woehler, Dr. Juan Moreno, SANCCOB (especially Vanessa Strauss and Dr. Richard Sherley), the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, the Detroit Zoo, Dr. Karen Waterfall of the Indianapolis Zoo, Amy Graves and the Tennessee Aquarium, Genie Burns and Arden Richardson with the Dallas World Aquarium, and the Edinburgh Zoo.
Thanks to my son, Oren, Meggan Dunham, and Brad Walker for helping me edit the text and convert my chapters and pictures into an attractive book that I was able to present to a publisher.
Thank you also to the dedicated team at Brown Books Publishing for the beautiful job they did, especially Jessica Kinkel.
And last but not least, thanks to Caroline Brown, who spent many hours searching for information and data about penguins and researchers.
The Penguin Family
Spheniscidae
Genus
Large Group: Aptenodytes
Brush Tailed: Pygoscelis
Banded: Spheniscus
Crested: Eudyptes
Yellow-eyed: Megadyptes
Little: Eudyptula
Latest Population Estimates
Individuals: 55,000,000–60,000,000
Breeding Pairs: 23,000,000–26,500,000

On the outskirt of Snow Hill Island, Antarctic Peninsula
David’s Observations: We Love Penguins
P enguins effortlessly evoke human love and attention! What makes them so loveable? Of course, each person finds something different to like. Some say that it’s the fact that penguins stand upright on two feet like us, some say it’s the funny way they walk, and still others say it’s how gracefully they move. Watching a penguin waddle at its slight stature prompts the thought of a baby learning to walk, and who doesn’t like babies?
There are also those people who look beyond the penguin’s cute black-and-white tuxedo to know and admire the adaptation and hardship penguins live through. Others marvel at the penguin’s charming behavior and life in communities a life that is filled with love and dedication, but that might also contain divorces and even jealous arguments that lead to fights and injury.
Penguin colonies are located in remote areas, but once you arrive at a rookery, the penguins are there for you to watch (with a few exceptions). They do not fly away, and many do not run away from people unless the humans get too close, so their lives on land are an open book. It is obvious that each individual penguin has its own personality, its own spouse and chick(s), and its own nest. From close range their life on land looks in many ways like ours, so it is easy and natural to admire and love them.
The first time I ever saw penguins on the southern shores of Chilean Patagonia, I was struck by their social structure and abundance of emotions. I walked around them for hours, taking pictures and watching them through the lens of my Nikon. They gathered on the beach, exchanged verbal messages, played with each other, and even fought. As they landed on shore, they joined the others on the crowded beach, announced their arrival, and later walked toward their nest to join their mate and chicks. I was amazed by the love and affection that I saw between mates. They touched each other’s bodies, moving their flippers like they wanted to hug. The pairs reminded me of teenagers in love.
I was enchanted, to say the least. To me they appeared to be a large group of busy, miniature people. They seemed very comfortable being around me, just like a bunch of friends.

A Chinstrap pair bonding






What Is a Penguin? A Penguin Is a Bird
Biologists classify penguins as birds, without any doubt. The penguin unable to fly, a superb diver, and a walker on earth does not appear, at first, to be a bird. Yet a penguin is covered in feathers, lays eggs, builds nests, and is warm-blooded. It is a bird that migrates huge distances encompassing thousands of miles, but does so by diving and swimming. Still not convinced that the penguin is a bird? Take a walk around any large penguin colony and see the old feathers on the ground and smell the vast amount of guano, and this will surely remove any remaining doubts a penguin is a strange bird unlike any other, but it is a bird nonetheless!
What Is Penguin-Pedia?
I came home from that trip to Chilean Patagonia struck by "penguin-mania" and started on my long journey to become a friend of the penguins. First, I wanted to know the basics: Where do they come from? Who are they? What are they?
I spent almost two years flying to remote places like the Falkland and Galapagos Islands and taking cruises across the southern ocean on boats of all sizes. My mission was to personally take photos of all the seventeen penguin species and gain personal, firsthand knowledge about these graceful birds.
One question led to another, and the more I knew, the more amazed I was. Finding answers to these questions, however, was not an easy task. That is when the idea for the Penguin-Pedia , a comprehensive book of penguin information with pictures, came about. The driving idea behind the Penguin-Pedia is that knowledge is a prerequisite for help. Several of the species are in a dire state, and if we want to help them, we first must educate ourselves and learn who these penguins are, what they do, and why they are suffering. Penguin-Pedia is my contribution, which I hope can help us all, especially younger generations, to gain knowledge and better understand the penguins, their needs, and the dangers they are facing. I tried to capture pictures that project the penguins’ beauty and emotions, but the pictures also help in understanding their hardships. Better knowledge and awareness will be the first small step in helping these adorable little characters.
This book is being launched together with the website www.Penguin-Pedia.com . The site is continuously updated with new photos, news about penguins, interesting research, and even penguin merchandise. You can find more information on our facebook page, www.Facebook.com/PenguinPedia , and our YouTube Channel, www.YouTube.com/PenguinDavid14 . We all love penguins, and hopefully this book and these websites will bring us closer to these beautiful birds.

King penguins marching to sea in the Falkland Islands

King penguin pairs forming bonds on Macquarie Island, Australia

A Magellanic parent with its two chicks

A group of Emperor chicks
Where to Find a Penguin
M eeting a penguin is easy. Wild penguins reside in the Southern Hemisphere. To show their love for the cute creatures, the Northern Hemisphere residents of Europe, America, and Asia flock to the many zoos and aquariums they have built to house captive penguins. However, if you feel that the real fun is in meeting a wild penguin, there are many options—some easy and not very expensive while others are difficult, daring, and costly.
Below are a wide variety of options and prices. Travel is calculated from the Dallas–Fort Worth Airport in Texas, and the cost for one person traveling for one week is estimated in US dollars. The price includes airfare (unless otherwise noted), and the fare calculated is the cheapest, most restricted economy ticket for travel in the month of February; the price also includes the average cost of a hotel for five nights, a small car rental and other transportation costs, and the entrance fee to the penguin colony.
Take a Plane to Meet the Penguins
The following are destinations that you can reach by flight on a regularly scheduled airline. Once you land in any of these locations, you can reach a place to view penguins either by car or by boat (a one- to two-hour ride