A Missive on Penguins

[Hanrahan 2983]

C H A R L E S   N A P I E R , 

 

D O C T O R    O F M E D I C I N E 

 

O N   T H E   S U B J E C T   O F

 

A P T E N D O T Y E S   R E X H E L A N I I

O R

T H E   E M P E R O R   P E N G U I N

 

 

---

---

 

 

P R I N T E D    I N H E L E N A

 

B Y

 

T H E   E V E R A R D I N E   C O L L E G E 

   A C A D E M I C   P R E S S 

 

I N 

 

A N N O   D O M I N I   MDCCXLVII

 

---

---

 

 

I N T R O D U C T I O N,

 

The Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes Rex Helanii) is the tallest and heaviest of all penguin species yet known, and resides solely within our most Northerly realms. Both genders are similar in plumage and size, reaching around fifty inches in height, and averaging at seventy pounds. Feathers of the head and back are black, and sharply delineated from the white belly and pale yellow breast. Like all penguins, it is a flightless bird with a streamlined body and wings stiffened and flattened into flippers for it’s marine habitat. Its diet is made up primarily of fish, but can include various crustaceans such as krill, and cephalopods, such as squid. While hunting, the Penguin can remain submerged for nearly half an hour, and dive into an unknown, but significant depth. 

 

The only penguin species that breeds during the winter, Emperor penguins travel fifty to one-hundred and twenty kilometers over the ice and stone to vast breeding colonies which may contain over ten-thousand individuals. The female then lays a single egg, which is incubated for over two months by the male while the female returns to the sea to feed. Parents subsequently take turns foraging at the sea and caring for their chick in the colony. The lifespan is typically twenty years in the wild. 

 

A Family of Emperor Penguins.

 

---

---

 

The Habitat of the Emperor penguin has a circumpolar distribution along the northern latitudes of the earth. It almost always breeds on stable pack ice (Condensed ice that is sturdy, opposed to floating ice.) near the coat, and up to twenty kilometers offshore. Breeding colonies are usually in areas where ice cliffs and icebergs provide protection from the bitter winds. Three land colonies were noted on the 14th Frond Society Expedition of 1746-7, one on Haas Island, one on Peter III Glacier, and the last in May’s Bay. 

 

 

Penguins in their habitat upon an Ice flow.

 

---

---

 

 

The Emperor Penguin is a social animal in its nesting and foraging behavior. Birds hunting together may both coordinate their diving and surfacing. Activity may occur in the day or night. An adult will travel throughout the year between the breeding colony and the ocean foraging areas - the species disperses into the oceans for several months following the new year. Both male and female penguins may forage for food up to five-hundred kilometers from their respective colonies while collecting food to feed chicks. A male returning to the sea after incubation heads directly out to areas of permanent open water. Being a master swimmer, the Penguin exerts pressure with both upward and downward strokes when swimming. On land, the emperor penguin alternates between a sort of wobbling gait, and tobogganing - sliding over the ice on its belly, propelled by its feet and flippers. Like all penguins, it is a flightless bird. The Emperor penguin is an exceptionally powerful bird. While trying to capture a specimen for research, it knocked over - and even tossed the crew of six, before collectively having to tackle the bird. As a defense against the cold, a colony of Emperor Penguins form a compact huddle ranging in size from ten to several hundred birds with each bird leaning forward on a neighbor. As the wind chill is lesser in the center of the huddle, the juvenile penguins are usually concentrated there. Those on the outside upwind tend to shuffle slowly around the edge of the formation, and rotate in and out to give each bird a turn on the inside and outside. Living in the arctic coast, the penguin faces a wide variety of predators both avian and mammalian in origin. Southern giant Petrels hunt chicks, and scavenge dead penguins as well. The Skua scavenges as well seasonally. The only predators known to attack healthy adults, and who attack them in the water are mammalian. The first is the leopard seal, which takes adults and fledglings soon after the enter the water. Orca Whales mostly take adult birds, although they will attack penguins of any age in, or near the water.

 

A Penguin being attacked by a Leopard seal.

 

---

---

 

[Old Man Boiendl 1454]

Boudewijn D. Haas of Haas Crownland Imports & Attorney, llc. reads the report on the penguin. After reading the report he promptly throws it into a garbage bin by his desk.

 

“What the ****’s a penguin, this is some detailed ****-post by Mister Napier. Well done I say.” 

 

He shrugs and goes about his business. 

 

 

[Harri 4815]

Doctor Daniel smiles brightly from within his makeshift laboratory, nodding along as he read the fellow practition’s missive. He was sure to commend the work as he passed copies of it around to interested members of the AIS.

[Vermy 1484]

Spoiler