Everyone loves the penguins.
I fear that if speak ill of them in any way, I will be put off the boat. True, they are adorable - - - - upwind. Downwind adorability is quite another
thing. A penguin is a machine that eats
krill, removes all the krill matter that doesn’t stink, then deposits the product
on the eternally preserved Antarctica landscape. On a warm day it positively steams off the
snow and displaces every breathable molecule of air. A penguin colony can be spotted miles away by
the pinkish cast of the snow.
They have no fear of people.
Clearly they do not know what I do.
If you sit still, you will have a visitor walk up to you every few
minutes to check you out. If we were
allowed to approach them, I would give one my little camera and see if he
actually photographs humans. It only
seems fair.
Penguin chicks are ungrateful little
bastards. Their parents run daily
gauntlets of leopard seals to bring them back food. If the parent doe not have enough the new
fledgling will chase it around the colony and mercilessly grab its parents beak
to be fed. By the time they have fledged (?) they are
easily as large as their parents.
Watching one of the bloated kids sucking food from its mothers stomach
just seems unfair. But of course, they
are adorable.
And, of course, if you misbehave in the penguin colony you will be sent to 'time out'!
I have heard about the strong smells associated with any of the large bird or penguin colonies in these remote locations. Of course with Antarctica being so cold year round, it helps to preserve the aromatic matter. With that said, it still has to be a unique experience having them walk up to you, not knowing you are a meat eater in your other life.
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