NATURE NOTES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22172, 27 July 1935, Page 1 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES

BT H. A. FALJ.A

THE PENGUIN FAMILY.

It is reported from Chicago that the last, of the Emperor penguins taken to America from the Antarctic by the recent Byrd Expedition has died in captivity and that a post-mortem examination disclosed fungoid infection of the lungs. It is not the first time that Antarctic penguins have been brought to civilisation and met with this fate. Both the large Emperors and the smaller Adelie penguins were brought back alive by Admiral Byrd and the Adelies died first. The cause of death in their case has not been disclosed, but reports 011 their condition on arrival at Port Chalmers suggest that they were more inclined to mope and pine in confinement. It is quite likely, for in their natural state they are more active and excitable than the Emperors. The latter, stoical birds at all times, would be able to put up with all the conditions of their captivity except the humidity of atmosphere to which they are quite unaccustomed. It is not likely that temperature alone would affect them much, and the transport of the birds to America in a refrigerator, with rides round Diinedin perched on blocks of ice, savoured more of showmanship than scientific treatment. It is natural enough that explorers should wish to bring home specimens of these natural comedians of the Antarctic, but the results of these experiments are not encouraging.

The most handsome of all the penguins, the King penguin, with a subantarctic range, has been successfully kept in captivity in London and in Edinburgh has even bred in captivity. Other zoological gardens, including Wellington, have also kept them for some time. In these cases the change from the birds' natural subantarctie conditions has not been extreme, and the only problem is correct feeding. The black-footed or Jackass penguin of the Cape of Good Hope has been still more easily adapted to conditions of life in a zoo.

The penguin family is confined to the Southern Hemisphere and consists of seventeen species, only two or three of which are inhabitants of the Antarctic ice. Several of them are subantarctie and three species are found in warmer waters. Of these the smallest is the blue penguin of southern and eastern Australia and New Zealand. This bird is like its larger relatives, solidly built and muscular; clothed with short flattened feathers which fit almost like the scales of a fish. It has short, webbed feet and powerful flippers in place of wings. Like all penguins it is perfectly at home in the water, swimming easily at the surface and still more rapidly beneath it, using the flippers for both propulsion and steering. Its food consists of small crabs and crab-like creatures and most of its time is spent at sea. Visits to land are made only for nesting purposes and for moulting.

Awkwardness of movement characterises the penguin's method of progression on land. The very short legs are so restricted in movement as to make their owners definitely "hobbled," and as they are near-sighted and easily flurried they usually flop down and progress with -the aid-of their flippers. They also do this when alarmed. Either through long acquaintance with man or because of the presence of other natural enemies on Izmd the blue penguin lacks the fearless disposition that gives charm to the penguins of more desolate regions. Indeed, as their visits ashore are usually nocturnal and their nests hidden in rocky caverns or burrows, blue penguins are but little known except to permanent settlers on the coast-. Anyone who erects a seaside house near an ocean beach is likely to have penguin tenants in the basement during the nesting season. They usually pay for their tenure by giving vocal performances at night, parents and chicks all braying in discord. Unappreciative owners have been known to tear up the floor boards in desperation and eject the tenants.

One of the attractions of southern New Zealand to the naturalist is the presence there of some of the larger penguins. Round the West Coast Sounds are found the crested penguins, three or four times as large as the blue penguin and having a >e!low crest on either side of the head. They would no doubt form nesting colonies in the open for preference, but are driven underground by the ferocious sandflies for which the Sounds are notorious. At Stewart Island and on the south-east coast as far as Otago Peninsula is found a still larger species known as the yellow-eyed or yellow-crowned penguin. The domestic habits of this bird can he spied upon, for the nests are usually to be found in the fringe of forest or scrub areas that run down to stretches of coast fronting the open sea. Without much sign of fear the yelloweyed penguins land on rock or sand in daylight and waddle away into the bush to find nesting sites. Finally each hen bird lays two eggs beside a rata trunk or bank of fern, and in this unusual situation incubates the eggs for several weeks. The chicks are brown, with down-like soft fur, and make a pretty picture. The parents take turn about in going to sea for food, the other partner standing guard meanwhile over the babes in the wood. When the young finally lose the down of the nestling stage they go to sea and learn to fish for themselves.

Subantarctic islands lying between 45 degrees and 55 degrees of south latitude are noted for tlie myriads of penguins that inhabit them in the nesting season. The feeding grounds at sea are extensive and the islands comparatively few, so that tbe concentration of birds on some of them is really spectacular. On the Bounty Islands, south-east of New Zealand, almost every square yard of available space over several acres is occupied by the big crested penguins which are found only there and on neighbouring islands. The Bounty Islands are composed of bare granite rocks rising steeply from the sea and are all but inaccessible even to penguins, being exposed to the full force of tremendous seas and swell. There are only a few points where the rock shelves down at a possible angle for foothold, and to these the returning birds make their way. As each wave lifts the long ribbons of kelp and creams over the base of the rocks the birds dart in and endeavour to grip the rock with feet, flippers, or beaks. As the wave goes down many are washed back again but a few are left clinging there. The lucky ones scramble up to safety before the next wave comes, but many have to ''dig in" a second time when caught, and a few are usually washed off altogether and have to try again. There are few casualties, however, for the penguins are as tough as rubber. On Macquarie Island the large "rookeries" of the royal penguin were exploited for many years, the birds being boiled down for oil, but although many thousands were taken annually the stock was not greatly depleted. The island is now a sanctuary.