penguin

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

'World's Unluckiest Penguins' Catch a Life-Saving Break

Antarctic colony unexpectedly survived after iceberg blocked sea access

(Newser) - Peter Fretwell at the British Antarctic Survey has called them "maybe the world's unluckiest" penguins, but they caught an unexpected break over the summer. When a massive iceberg broke off from the Brunt ice shelf in May and drifted to a stop in front of the Halley Bay...

Escapee Penguin Pulls Off Quite a 'Miracle'

Captivity-born Pen-chan had never been in open ocean before, yet was found 30 miles away

(Newser) - Pen-chan is a 6-year-old Cape penguin born in captivity in Japan who had no experience with the open ocean or predators. So as AFP reports, when she escaped an event on Aug. 25 on Himaka Island, there was little hope for her survival, much less her safe return. As rescuers...

Penguin That Was Walking on His Ankles Gets Help

Lucas at San Diego Zoo is outfitted with orthopedic footwear

(Newser) - A member of the San Diego Zoo's African penguin colony has been fitted with orthopedic footwear to help it deal with a degenerative foot condition. The 4-year-old penguin named Lucas has lesions on his feet due to a chronic condition known as bumblefoot, which covers a range of avian...

Antarctic Penguin Swims 1.8K Miles to New Zealand

And after some rest and a fish smoothie, 'Pingu' was returned to the water

(Newser) - Harry Singh thought he'd discovered a child's toy on a beach on New Zealand's South Island. Then it moved its head. What he'd actually found was a tired Adélie penguin, which had the BBC reports apparently traveled some 1,800 miles from its home on...

'Monster Penguin' Once Lived in New Zealand
There Was Once
a Penguin the
Size of an Adult Human
study says
Aug 14, 2019 4:29 PM CDT

There Was Once a Penguin the Size of an Adult Human

The 'monster penguin' was about a foot taller than an emperor penguin, lived in New Zealand

(Newser) - Scientists in New Zealand said Wednesday they've found fossilized bones from an extinct monster penguin that was about the size of an adult human and swam the oceans some 60 million years ago. They said the previously undiscovered species is believed to have stood about 5 feet 2 inches...

Catastrophe Drowned Thousands of Penguin Chicks

Emperor colony has suffered total breeding failure

(Newser) - The second-biggest breeding ground for Antarctica's emperor penguins is now almost completely deserted after a 2016 catastrophe, researchers say. Satellite photos show that the Halley Bay colony in the Weddell Sea, where around 8% of the world's emperor penguins normally breed, disappeared almost overnight, the BBC reports. Researchers...

7 Penguins Mysteriously Drowned at Canadian Zoo

'Nothing we’ve ever encountered before'

(Newser) - Employees at the Calgary Zoo made a horrifying discovery Thursday morning: seven dead Humboldt penguins, all apparently drowned in a 3-feet-deep pool. "Everybody here is pretty shaken up by it," animal care director Jamie Dorgan tells CBC News . The penguins were being kept in a holding area this...

2 Activists Free Penguin, May Have Doomed Him

Park officials in South African say Buddy won't survive in the wild

(Newser) - Two South African students may have gotten in over their heads when they "liberated" a penguin from a South African marine park, the BBC reports. Surveillance video showed two still-unidentified students breaking into the enclosure at Bayworld marine park, grabbing the penguin, and driving it to the nearby shoreline,...

150K 'Dead' Penguins Might Just Be Chilling Elsewhere

They may have only abandoned their colony: expert

(Newser) - Troubled by the apparent deaths of 150,000 penguins since a Rhode Island-sized iceberg crashed into Antarctica in 2010? Good news: There might be an alternative explanation for their disappearance. No one has actually found the bodies of 150,000 Adélie penguins that vanished from a colony at Cape...

New Zealand Has Another Wayward Penguin

'Happy Feet Jr.' is in rough shape after long journey

(Newser) - Another penguin has managed the amazing feat of washing up on the shore of New Zealand, reports AFP . This one has been named "Happy Feet Jr." after the original wayward penguin who captivated the nation in 2011. The juvenile royal penguin is in bad shape, unfortunately, though for...

Long-Lost Study: Penguins Rape, Kill Each Other

Adelie penguins: so depraved, history forgot about them

(Newser) - Those penguin tuxedos? Deceptive, it turns out. Certain young male penguins are so sexually depraved that their behavior was kept hidden for 100 years, the Guardian reports. British scientist George Murray Levick studied Adélie penguins during a 1910-1913 Antarctic expedition, and his report so appalled editors that details of...

Guys Break Into Sea World, Steal Penguin

Then release it in shark-infested waters

(Newser) - Usually, we mock criminals when they brag about their crimes on Facebook . But if your crime was breaking into a Sea World, swimming with the dolphins, and making off with a 7-year-old fairy penguin, we understand the urge to share. Three Queensland, Australia men, aged 18, 20, and 21, have...

Newt Gingrich Bit by Penguin
 Newt Gingrich Bit by Penguin 
Apr 17, 2012 6:28 AM CDT

Newt Gingrich Bit by Penguin

It only sounds made up...

(Newser) - At least one penguin at the St. Louis Zoo appears to be a feisty opponent of Newt Gingrich. The GOP candidate is sporting a bandage on his finger after getting nipped by a small penguin during his tour of the zoo on Friday. Gingrich was in St. Louis to speak...

Tokyo on the Hunt for Escaped Penguin

Humboldt penguin fled Tokyo Sea Life Park aquarium

(Newser) - It sounds like the premise of a Disney movie, and hopefully it will have a happy ending: Aquarium officials are searching for a penguin who fled from the Tokyo Sea Life Park and was last seen swimming "at a tremendous speed" in a river headed toward Tokyo Bay. The...

Scientists Lose Track of 'Happy Feet' Penguin

Transmitter probably fell off, trackers hope

(Newser) - The story of "Happy Feet," the wayward emperor penguin that turned up in New Zealand, has captivated the world, but we may never know how it ends. The young penguin was returned to the wild last week and a transmitter that was attached to him has stopped relaying...

120K Following Penguin Via Webcam

Happy Feet doing well, to be released soon

(Newser) - Happy Feet is now a creature of the Internet age. The wayward emperor penguin, discovered on a New Zealand beach six weeks ago, will soon be returned to the wild —but not before he picked up an online following of more than 120,000. That's how many unique...

Zoo Plans Release of Lost Penguin

'Happy Feet' still improving, but it's only getting a partway-ride home

(Newser) - A young emperor penguin that turned up on a New Zealand beach won't be getting a free ride all the way back to its Antarctic home—but the bird's human friends will at least help it get a little closer. Today, an advisory group headed by the nation'...

Wayward Penguin Better After Surgery

'Happy Feet' had been eating sand and wood

(Newser) - New Zealand's favorite penguin visitor is more lively and eating fish after undergoing endoscopic surgery today to remove some of the beach sand and twigs it swallowed, apparently mistaking it for snow. Full recovery for the young emperor penguin—nicknamed Happy Feet—may take months, and officials are still...

Lost Emperor Penguin Moved to Wellington Zoo
 Lost Penguin Moved to NZ Zoo 
Jun 24, 2011 4:02 AM CDT

Lost Penguin Moved to NZ Zoo

Health is suffering after 2K-mile trek from home

(Newser) - Conservation officials in New Zealand have decided against letting nature take its course with a young Emperor penguin who turned up on a beach 2,000 miles from his Antarctic home. The penguin—nicknamed "Happy Feet"—was moved to a zoo in Wellington after his health appeared to...

Fossil of 5-Foot-Tall Penguin Found in Peru

Creature, dubbed 'Water King,' lacked tuxedo coloring

(Newser) - It sounds both adorable and fearsome: A red penguin that stands nearly five feet tall. Researchers in Peru have unearthed the fossil of just such a creature, a giant penguin that waddled its way around the world some 36 million years ago. The creature may have lacked the modern bird...

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>
Most Read on Newser