Penguin brains not changed by loss of flight

This is an ancient penguin skull and endocast.
Scale bar is 2.5 cm and letters indicate parts of the brain:
ce, cerebellum; el, endosseus labyrinth; fl, floccular lobe;
ol, optic lobe; os, occipital sinus impression; pb, pituitary bulb;
t, telencephalon; w, wulst.
Photo credit: Courtesy of James Proffitt.

Losing the ability to fly gave ancient penguins their unique locomotion style. But leaving the sky behind didn't cause major changes in their brain structure, researchers from The University of Texas at Austin suggest after examining the skull of the oldest known penguin fossil.

The findings were published in the Journal of Anatomy in February.

"What this seems to indicate is that becoming larger, losing flight and becoming a wing-propelled diver does not necessarily change the [brain] anatomy quickly," said James Proffitt, a graduate student at the university's Jackson School of Geosciences who led the research.

"The way the modern penguin brain looks doesn't show up until millions and millions of years later."

What makes penguin feathers ice-proof?

SOUTH AMERICA - Humboldt penguins live in places that dip below freezing in the winter, and despite getting wet, their feathers stay sleek and free of ice. Scientists have now figured out what could make that possible. They report in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Physical Chemistry C that the key is in the microstructure of penguins' feathers. Based on their findings, the scientists replicated the architecture in a nanofibre membrane that could be developed into an ice-proof material.

Abandoned 'supercolony' may hold clues to penguins' response to climate change

More than 600,000 Adelie penguins nest on Cape Adare,
Antarctica. Photo credit: Steve Emslie, UNCW

ANTARCTICA – Researchers recently discovered that Antarctica’s most populous colony of Adélie penguins may have once been nearly twice the size it is today. Clues about why the colony grew so large and what caused the population to decline could help scientists chart the penguins’ response to changes in climate and food resources.

Collaborative research conducted by Louisiana State University (LSU), University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), University of California at Santa Cruz and University of Saskatchewan led to this discovery at Cape Adare, Antarctica.

Specialist vet focusing on yellow-eyed penguins

Yellow-eyed penguins at Penguin Place.
Photo credit: Pertinent Penguin. Can be used under a
CC BY NC 4.0 International License.

NEW ZEALAND - Otago and Southland’s fragile yellow-eyed penguin population is benefiting from the expertise and experience of wildlife vet Dr Lisa Argilla.

The Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust is concerned there may be a repeat of the 2015 season of high injury rates from marine predators, such as barracouta. Recently, five penguins were maimed by suspected barracouta and shark attacks. Penguins injured before they moult have a low chance of survival without early intervention and rehabilitation.

Lisa has been contracted by the Trust for six weeks to ensure injured penguins have the best chance of survival. Lisa has already operated on five injured penguins seriously injured, probably by barracouta.

Penguin parents' inability to share roles increases their vulnerability to climate change

Crested penguin feeding its chick.
Photo credit: Kyle Morrison

NEW ZEALAND - The fixed division of labour between crested penguin parents increases their chicks' vulnerability to food shortages made ever more common by climate change.

Penguin parents have been unable to adapt their habits to the challenges of increasingly frequent years of limited food supply. As a result, they will become further threatened by extinction, said Kyle Morrison of Massey University and the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research, who led a study published in Springer's journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

Penguin chicks huddle for warmth and protection

ANTARCTICA - Location and environmental conditions may influence when gentoo chicks huddle in cold, wet Antarctic conditions, according to a study published this month in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Caitlin Black from the University of Oxford and colleagues.

Many penguin species huddle together and form creches (aggregations) to conserve heat, gain protection and for other purposes. Although scientists have observed gentoo penguin chicks huddling during the post-guarding period, a period when the parents leave the chicks daily to go find food, these creches have never been studied over a large spatial range in the Antarctic.

The authors of this study looked at the adaptive benefit of creches by using time-lapse cameras to observe gentoo penguin huddling behaviour during the post-guarding period across four study sites at different latitudes.

NZ's little penguins are recent Aussie invaders

NEW ZEALAND - The little penguin species (popularly known as little blue penguins) found in southern New Zealand is a surprisingly recent invader from Australia, according to a new study led by University of Otago researchers.

Following the recent discovery that little penguins in Otago belong to an Australian species, a team of researchers from New Zealand and the United States set out to determine when the Aussies first arrived.