On our Earth, we are graced with many fantastic life forms. From those gliding through the heavenly skies, to those at the deepest depths of the oceans, there is a plethora of various species. A group of these, though, is like a diamond in the rough. While many people admire its beauty, they have yet to realize that it’s the love for them that is dwindling its population. Who are these magnificent creatures…none other then the penguins. Just about everyone’s seen a penguin, whether it be on TV, in a magazine, or at a zoo. This is because of the fact that penguins are highly saturated in the media and various industries. Think of Penguin Books or the Pittsburgh Penguins. All the cartoons you’ve seen with penguins in them. Unfortunately, due to mounting and continuing problems, penguins are in danger of becoming extinct. There may be a day were penguins won’t be in any media, simply because there won’t be anymore. Though one may have heard of news supporting them, or funds helping them, this crackdown is seemingly not helping as much as it needs to. In order for one to understand the danger possessed by penguins, a background of the species and evolution is necessary. The impact people have on penguins is mostly destructive, and the future possibilities are gloomy if things don’t change. The endangerment of penguins is being perpetuated by human actions and these actions must cease for penguins to stay alive. Simply saying penguins are endangered is not suffice. There are many kinds of penguins, each having its own status of vulnerability and danger. Just like all other living things, penguins have a Scientific Classification. Theirs is as follows. The class they are in is the Aves. This class includes all birds. The Order they are in is called the Sphenisciformes, followed by the only Family under it, the Spheniscide. Both of these include all penguins, living and extinct. Moving down, the only point with variation is that of the species. Most scientists agree that there are seventeen species of penguins, with a select few recognizing eighteen instead. (del Hoyo, 1992). See Chart A The largest penguin is the Emperor Penguin, standing four feet tall and one hundred pounds. The smallest is the aptly named Litt... ... middle of paper ... ... World Book Inc, 2000. Davis, Lloyd S. and John T Darby. Penguin Biology. San Diego: Academic Press, Inc., 1990. del Hoyo, Josep, Andrew Elliott and Jordi Sargatal. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol 1, Ostrich to Ducks. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, 1992. Dr. Dr. h.c. Grzimk, Bernhard. “The Penguins.” Animal Life Encyclopedia. Volume 7, Birds I. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1968. Marchant, S. and P.J. Higgins. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1990. Name Unknown. “Nature. The World of Penguins.” http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/penguins/resources.html Pasquier, Roger. “Penguin.” Encyclopedia Americana. Volume 21. Connecticut: Grolier Inc, 1998. Simpson, George Gaylord. Penguins: Past and Present, Here and There. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1976. Sparks, John and Tony Soper. Penguins. New York: Facts on File Publications, 1987.
3 Apr. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. http://eol.org/pages/323582/details>. Evans, Arthur V., Rosser W. Garrison, Neil Schlager, and Michael Hutchins. Grzimeks' Animal Life Encyclopedia.
Alden, Peter, Rich Cech, and Gil Nelson. 1998. National Audubon Society Field Guide to Florida. New York: Knopf. 2. Brown, Larry W. 1997.
Like I said moments ago, the penguin is known to be witty, meticulous, inscrutable and they of course live on ice! First of all, I can be witty if I want to, and I spend half of my time on the ice. By that, I mean at the arena playing or practicing ringette. Ringette is a part of me and it always will be. I love the sound of my skate edge cutting into the ice. In addition to that, I love the way snow sprays off my skate when I make a quick stop as well. These are just some of the way that I can relate to a penguin. In conclusion to this paragraph, I am most like a penguin because I often enjoy the cold
will make you think, for example, the Penguin is put into a Zoo as a
Movies such as Mary Poppins, Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, Happy Feet, Surf’s Up, and Madagascar have portrayed penguins as lovable, comical creatures with intelligent minds and adorable faces. Simply put: humans have idealized the penguin. Indeed, it is a well-known fact that most species of penguin form loyal monogamous bonds, also known as mating for life. However, there are other penguin facts which are largely unknown. For example, few individuals know that penguins have a body temperature between “100 and 102 degrees” Fahrenheit (Lynch, 1997, p. 35). When we remember that humans have a...
After watching March of the Penguins I was browsing the internet while I was trying to figure out which direction to take the essay in, because there were too many possibilities for the topic. Soon I found myself watching Monty Python, when the perfect sketch to start this paper on comes on. A newspaper reporter comes on saying "Penguins, yes penguins what relevance do penguins have with the furtherance of medical science? Well strangely enough quite a lot" He moves into a joke about research not being accidental. Then he picks up of the penguins "Nevertheless scientists believe that these penguins, these comic flightless web-footed little b@$#ards are un-wittingly helping man to fathom the uncharted depths of the human mind." The news cast flips to the scientist who introduces himself then states "...having been working on the theory postulated by the late Dr. Kramer that the penguin in intrinsically more intelligent than the human being." From there a multitude of science spoofs lead to the confirmation of this theory of penguins being smarter, even though it is clearly pointed out that the penguin's brain is smaller than of a human being. This causes the penguins to rise up and take over the roles of humans. After careful consideration I decided to discuss this clip as there really is no better way to introduce how animals are used in film as entertainment. Whether it is a crazy Monty Python sketch or the heartwarming love story that is March of the Penguins both were created for many reasons, but the most influential was the desire to earn money. For now just keep Monty Python on the back burner it will have significance later, lets shift to dealing with the questions being posed about March of the Penguins. How did March o...
... middle of paper ... ... Larson, R. (1978). The Species of the World.
She states that most, if not all, of the movies that make up this new genre of movie “works not to emphasize the difference between humans and nonhumans, as it does in so many other Pixar features, but instead makes the characters into virtual puppets…” (284). Once puppetized, these characters can be made to do whatever they, the directors, please. Such as re-write and re enforce gender roles, as it is shown in March of the Penguins, with how the directors showed how the males were in charge of watching and protecting the eggs while the females left to find food (whereas in human society it is the opposite). Or they can solidify heterosexuality, by stating that all of the penguin relationships are strictly male/ female. Then by taking this bourgeois concept of heterosexuality and advertising it as full of variety and elasticity.
Works Cited Bates, D. (1957, December 17). Letter from Roy Wilkins. Little Rock, Arkansas, United States of America. Beals, M. P. (1994). The Species of the World.
Smith, Hobart M. and Zim, Herbet S. Reptiles and Amphibians. New York: Western Publishing Company, 1987. Print.
Threats: Even though Emperor penguins have never been threaten there is some treats they face. One being of human activity. Two the overfishing of their food sources. Three a disease called Bursal Disease Virus (IBDV). One major threat is that of human activity creating global warming, This has threaten their breeding grounds as well as. This could then create a problem for the future of the species.
"Cornell Lab of Ornithology." : Education at the Lab of Ornithology. Web. 05 May 2014. .
“And all the children who came to the zoo could see Tango and her two fathers playing in the penguin house…” (Richardson). This scene comes from the children’s book, And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell. This excerpt briefly tells that the theme of this story is about an unorthodox family structure that consists of a homosexual couple. Richard and Parnell use this picture book aimed for four to eight year olds to simply describe the real love story of two penguins, Silo and Roy, who can be found in New York’s Central Park Zoo. “Roy and Silo are both boys. However, they did everything together,” like a couple would do and they, “didn’t spend much time with the girl penguins.” When mating season came, they built a nest and tried to hatch an egg, but obviously, that was impossible. The zookeeper noticed this and brought Silo and Roy an egg from another couple that would not be able to take care of both the eggs they had. Eventually, Silo and Roy hatch a beautiful chick which the zookeeper named Tango; this created their little happy family.