Tagged: penguins

We discovered what’s killing the world’s rarest penguin – and it could help us make a vaccine - Hot off the press

Guest Author • Jun 15, 2021 •

• hoiho,
• New Zealand stories,
• penguins,
• vaccines

Vartul Sangal, Northumbria University, Newcastle   Yellow-eyed penguins are the most endangered penguin species in the world, with just 4,000 left in the wild. Found only in New Zealand and its outlying islands, these birds can grow up to 79cm tall and weigh 8.5kg, which is similar to a one-year-old child. They’re easily identified by the pale-yellow band … Read More

How we discovered three new species of penguin in the Southern Ocean - Guest Work

Guest Author • Nov 07, 2020 •

• DNA,
• penguins,
• species

Jane Younger, University of Bath When you think of scientists discovering new species, you might imagine searching the Amazon rainforest for new types of insect or the depths of the ocean for undiscovered crustaceans. But these days most new species we discover are found hiding in plain sight. Such “hidden” species can look so similar to … Read More

Old bones reveal new evidence about the role of islands in penguin evolution - Guest Work

Guest Author • Feb 07, 2019 •

• evolution,
• island biogeography,
• penguins

Theresa Cole; Jonathan Waters, and Kieren Mitchell, University of Adelaide Ever since Charles Darwin’s voyage to the Galapagos, biologists have been trying to figure out what determines the number of species that exist at any point in time. Our research, published this week, provides an answer to this question, at least when it comes to … Read More

Just the latest attack on penguins - Guest Work

Guest Author • Feb 05, 2019 •

• hoiho,
• little blue penguins,
• penguins

Spencer McIntyre Last week, many of us scrolling through newsfeeds or popping on the news were horrified to see that two kororā-little blue penguins were stolen from their nest in Napier and a third killed in the process. Read More

Whole Lotta Rosie! Ancient fossil found in Waipara - News

Jean Balchin • Feb 19, 2018 •

• Canterbury,
• fossils,
• habitats,
• million,
• museum,
• Paleocene Epoch,
• penguins,
• Waipara

Canterbury Museum is now the proud home of the world’s oldest penguin fossil and the world’s most complete specimen of any bird (also a penguin) that lived during the 10 million years following the extinction of the dinosaurs. Left to Right: Dr Paul Scofield, Dr Vanesa De Pietri and Dr Gerald Mayr with the skull of Rosie’s Penguin. The story … Read More

Penguins under threat from drowning in fishing nets - Guest Work

Guest Author • Dec 02, 2017 •

• conservation,
• fisheries,
• fishing,
• marine life,
• penguins,
• sea birds,
• Yellow-eyed Penguin

By Ursula Ellenberg, La Trobe University.  Fishing nets pose a serious risk to the survival of penguin species, according to a new global review of the toll taken by “bycatch” from commercial fishing. Fourteen of the world’s 18 penguin species have been recorded as fishing bycatch. Among the species under threat are Tasmania’s little penguins and New … Read More

The winners and losers of Antarctica’s great thaw - Guest Work

Guest Author • Jun 30, 2017 •

• Antarctica,
• climate change,
• invasive species,
• invertebrates,
• penguins,
• Tardigrades,
• thawing,
• warming

By Jasmine Lee, The University of Queensland; Justine Shaw, The University of Queensland, and Richard Fuller, The University of Queensland When you think of Antarctica, you probably picture vast, continuous ice sheets and glaciers, with maybe a penguin or two thrown in. Yet most Antarctic plants and animals live in the permanently ice-free areas … Read More

NIWA’s year of science - Field Work

Guest Author • Dec 19, 2016 •

• #eqnz,
• atmosphere,
• climate change,
• earthquakes,
• marine science,
• NIWA,
• penguins,
• Science

A year is a short time in science but a lot happened in 2016. In the first of its Summer Series articles, NIWA highlights its top scientific endeavours of the past 12 months and reveals we know a lot more about a whole range of things than we did this time last year. MARCH – Methane culprits identified Scientists … Read More

Puffed up penguins- World Penguin Day - Ice Doctor

Victoria Metcalf • Apr 29, 2015 •

• #WorldPenguinDay,
• Antarctica,
• Antarctica,
• birds,
• penguins,
• World Penguin Day

Over the weekend, in case you missed it, it was World Penguin Day, an annual day to think about those dapper-suited gentlemen and women and how much fun they bring to our lives. Let’s face it, I think everyone LOVES penguins. I’m yet to meet anyone that isn’t pretty mesmerised or completely besotted by the waddling … Read More

Frozen Friday Fab Four #6 The importance of basic science - Ice Doctor

Victoria Metcalf • May 30, 2014 •

• Adelie penguin,
• Antarctic,
• Antarctica,
• Antarctica,
• bacteria,
• Basic Research,
• birds,
• blue skies research,
• elephant bird,
• evolution,
• Flu,
• Frozen Friday Fab Four,
• General science,
• Kiwi,
• microbiome,
• microplastic,
• microplastics,
• oral health,
• penguins,
• placenta,
• plastic,
• Pollution,
• Ross Sea,
• sea ice

Four of the Antarctic or anything else headlines/social media bits that have grabbed my attention this week. Remarkably it looks like the diminutive Kiwi is the closest living relative of the extinct elephant bird. Image source: Wikimedia Commons uploaded by Glen Stewart. The importance of basic science 1. As a scientist I actually love it when what we think … Read More