Happy Yours Day My love!
On the International Antarctic Expedition from 27th Feb to 12th March, one of my dreams turned into reality. I got to see in real the wildlife on the continent and the ways Global climate change is affecting the life over there which is far away from civilization. We humans can reach anywhere and for our selfish reasons we can explore any part of the universe. For our selfish purpose only and to have better life in a long run we need to save the pristine life and continent Antarctica which is possible only when we keep our life and surrounding safe. It’s inter related.
Today is World Penguin Day. It is celebrated on the 25th April each year, as this is roughly the date of this amazing creature’s annual, northward migration.
Penguin is the one who was a grand part of my dreams since childhood and I use to think that they are beyond my reach to be seen and meet in real. Yet reading and seeing their pictures and movies, as we all would have heard of Happy Feet has been my favorite things. In fact I believe that ‘Happiness in feet’ if at all we can imagine it’s with imagination of penguins. That’s what film makers have seeded in us- audience, common people. I have been very lucky for I happen to have my dream turn into reality and I met in abundance and lavishly 3 kind of Penguins out of 17 which exist in the world.
Penguins are primarily found in towards Southern part of the world. All of the species live in the Southern hemisphere. Many live at the South Pole on Antarctica. But some don’t live in such cold places. They are found on the coasts of South America, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Galapagos Islands.
List of Penguin Species:
- Adelie Penguin
- African Penguin
- Chinstrap Penguin
- Emperor Penguin
- Erect-Crested Penguin
- Fiordland Penguin
- Galapagos Penguin
- Gentoo Penguin
- Humboldt Penguin
- King Penguin
- Little (or Blue) Penguin
- Macaroni Penguin
- Magellanic Penguin
- Rockhopper Penguin
- Royal Penguin
- Snares Penguin
- Yellow-eyed Penguin
Gentoo Penguins 
Chinstrap Penguins 
Curious Gentoo Penguins
Penguins & Love :-
Humans give flowers and candy when wooing a lady. Penguins give rocks. Not just any rocks, though — male Gentoo penguins search through piles of pebbles to find the smoothest, most perfect ones. When a penguin has selected his pebble, he presents it to his intended companion. If she approves, she puts the stone in her nest and the two are well on their way to becoming mommy and daddy birds. Pebbles are so important to the penguins that males often fight over the prettiest selections.
Breeding:-
They breed in some of the harshest conditions in the world. Emperor penguins get their groove on during winter in Antarctica, trekking inland on solid ice. The winter is so cold, at more than 50 degrees below zero, that parents have to perch the eggs on their feet constantly so they don’t freeze. Humboldt penguins have the ickiest place to mate. They breed in burrows sometimes made of guano, poop.
Our cabin decorator Elle use to surprise us by making some or the other creation. One of the days a pair of penguins on my pillow kept me in awe, in which I am still in 
Our cabin in the ship, our house for two weeks during the voyage to Antarctica
Mr. & Miss Right:-
True love waits — for a little while, anyway. Penguin breeds including Gentoo, Chinstrap and Adelie mate with the same partner year after year. If a partner doesn’t show up, the show must go on; most birds will choose another mate. Monogamy isn’t for all penguins, though. Occasionally, a penguin will choose two or three partners in a year.
My experience with the most adorable being I have ever witnessed:-
So distance of 5 meters to be maintained we were told with Penguins while on the land, so did we. Yet if they walk up to you do not touch and just let them be, we were told. We adhered by it and it was purely magical to just observe these curious, enthralling, adorable, fantastic creatures.
First sight of Adelie Penguins 
Gentoo penguins 
Cormorant, a bird which looks like Penguins and can fly.
Threats to these Adorable beings-
In addition to global warming and natural predation by sharks, orcas, leopard seals, sea lions and fur seals, other threats to penguins include impacts on habitat due to oil spills, pesticides, construction, destruction of habitat due to introduced herbivores, competition with humans for food and illegal egg harvesting.
In Antarctica, home to the famous emperor penguin, the annual sea ice melting season has extended by as much as 3 weeks in recent decades. Less ice means less habitat for penguins and the loss of critical food, such as shrimp-like krill, which depend on polar ice to reproduce.
The penguin that is currently most threatened by climate change is the African penguin. Most African penguins live on islands off the coast of Africa and feed on a rich supply of anchovies and sardines that follow a nearby current of cold water. As the oceans heat up, this stream is moving further away from their island home. These penguins will only swim up to 25 miles away from their homes, so if the current moves much further they will not be able to reach their food source.
They are beauty, let us save them.
Here are some more beauty proofs for your eyes; lets keep our surrounding clean and ourselves healthy, to keep them alive.
Beauty with the poop in the background 
Penguin footsteps with Humans 
Carcass of Penguin, under naturally decaying process 
Penguins generally come on land to mate/breed and Molting 
🙂 
Cracks naturally appearing due to rise in temperature on one of the islands in Antarctica 
During the process of Molting they are suppose to keep standing for two weeks in one position and they are all dressed with new feathers and all set to attract the partner 
Penguin on the Moss – which is very important for the ecosystem 
That’s how Antarctica suppose to be and not rocky ! 
When I thought of to become one of them 
Their kingdom 
Happy Day to you. Loved watching them, please do one thing from today which is to save your environment.
Happy Living.
Shruti
