Penguins + News & Information

The penguin in our groups logo is the Yellow-eyed Penguin, one of the most at risk. The Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust is an organization that is working to protect the Yellow-eyed Penguins and their natural environment. There are believed to be less than 2,000 breeding pairs of this type of penguin remaining in existance. Learn more about the penguins, the efforts for their conservation, and find some interesting links at their web site:

The Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust has a once in a lifetime opportunity to secure a stunning stretch of the Otago Coastline containing over 40 pairs of yellow-eyed penguins. This represents 10% of the entire population of penguins on mainland New Zealand.

This coastal jewel has significant natural values as well as being a prime penguin nesting habitat. It also supports NZ fur seals, NZ sealions, numerous seabird species, rare coastal plant communities, small remnants of native forest, an archaeological site and potential development for a recreational coastal walkway.

In honor of the generous Penguins + promotional blog on N+ (the best Nintendo related community on the web), I’d like to do a Nintendo related blog. Today’s topic: penguins found in great games on the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console. There are quality games that include penguins on the virtual console right now. In Mario 64 you can return a missing baby penguin to its mother (among other penguin interactions) and Mario Kart 64 features a track with belly-sliding penguins as obstacles. These are great titles! However, if you’re looking for penguins, the title you may really want to see released is Paper Mario (The N64 one). In this game, penguins even have their own city. Penguin characters include; The absent-minded mayor of Shiver City; his wife, who reads a few too many murder mystery novels; and Herringway, a penguin mystery novelist! No doubt, the name Herringway was derived from the term red herring.

Hopefully, they release this title onto the Virtual Console soon! I can’t wait! (I never beat this game; I lost my copy…)

Penguins are often misunderstood. I would like to clear up a few common misconceptions due to the media stereotyping our poor feathered friends. The above picture is clearly not the reality.

1. Penguins do not live exclusively in cold climates. They are able to survive in the harshest environments on Earth, reaching from the South Pole to about the Equator. The Galapagos Penguin, for example lives on the Galapagos Islands. Their weather forecast today according to the Weather Channel is a high of 85⁰F and a low of 77⁰F with scattered thunderstorms.

2. Penguins do not interact with polar bears in the wild. Polar Bears live near the North Pole, while penguins live, generally, in the Southern Hemisphere. These creatures live on opposite ends of the Earth.

3. Penguins are not simply black and white. Penguins are beautiful shades of black, white, grays, blues, yellows, and oranges. Some, like the Rockhoppers, even have red eyes. And, some types have cute pink feet!

4. Penguins have no association with Christmas. Since they live on the other side of the planet, they do not help out in any workshops located at the North Pole and I am pretty sure they weren’t present in the stable when Jesus was born. They are penguins all year around, and do not endorse or profit from the penguin merchandise boom that takes place in the month of December.


If you have any stereotypes to add that I forgot, please add them to the comments.