Star Attack!: 1 (Space Penguins (1))

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Eating so much seafood means drinking a lot of saltwater, but penguins have a way to remove it. The supraorbital gland, located just above their eye, filters salt from their bloodstream, which is then excreted through the bill—or by sneezing! But this doesn’t mean they chug seawater to quench their thirst: penguins drink meltwater from pools and streams and eat snow for their hydration fix.

The study found a number of colonies located far offshore, situated on sea ice that has formed around icebergs that had grounded in shallow water. These colonies, up to 180 km offshore, are a surprising new finding in the behaviour of this increasingly well-known species. Dr Phil Trathan, Head of Conservation Biology at BAS, has been studying penguins for the last three decades. He says:This is an exciting discovery. The new satellite images of Antarctica’s coastline have enabled us to find these new colonies. And whilst this is good news, the colonies are small and so only take the overall population count up by 5-10% to just over half a million penguins or around 265,500 – 278,500 breeding pairs”. Galaxies come in a host of shapes, which can tell scientists about the history of these structures. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon, J. DePasquale, F. Summers, and Z. Levay (STScI)) I think it's best read as a buddy project between parent and child, as I think the words might be a bit too difficult for even an 8-year-old (but, I'm hardly an expert on the subject as I didn't know any English when I was eight), although there is a glossary for some of the words and also discussion questions. The illustrations really make this book even nicer. I'm a bit older than suggested, but still had a great time reading it. I'll definitely keep this book in mind when looking for a present for a kid.

Ya-Te-Veo • Yacumama • Yale • Yamabiko • Yamakachi • Yanalik-Adam • Yaoshikepu • Yara Ma Yha Who • Yeren • Yeti • Yggdrasil • Yibimin • Yowie • Yu • Yukon Beaver Eater Made by the London-based soft toy company Jellycat, My First Penguin is sold as a doll for newborns. All but two penguin species breed in large colonies for protection, ranging from 200 to hundreds of thousands of birds. (There’s safety in numbers!) But living in such tight living quarters leads to an abundance of penguin poop— so much that it stains the ice! The upside is that scientists can locate colonies from space just by looking for dark ice patches.

Satellite imagery of the Danger Islands, where scientists discovered previously unknown Adelie penguin colonies. (Image credit: NASA) The fact that this farmer never tried to squeeze an ounce of publicity (or make a penny in profit) from his strange Valentines’ Day experience has lead many investigators to conclude that there would be no motivation for a prank on the part of Edwards. In further support of Edward’s claims is the uncanny trace evidence left behind in the field where the UFO had landed. Reporting this week in the journal Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, the authors describe how they used images from the European Commission’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite mission to locate the birds. They found 11 new colonies, three of which were previously identified but never confirmed. That takes the global census to 61 colonies around the continent. The smudges on the ice show the existence of an emperor penguin colony. Image taken from the European Commission’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite Another adaptive gland—the oil (also called preen) gland—produces waterproofing oil. Penguins spread this across their feathers to insulate their bodies and reduce friction when they glide through the water. As soon as he lobbed the second stone, the scuttling, green critters swiftly disappeared behind the shaft supporting the craft, presumably into an access portal that was concealed from the farmer. It was then that the strange UFO tilted toward him not once, but twice. On the third lurch the UFO actually began silently ascending off the frozen Earth.

Editor's note: You can learn more about how to participate in the Penguin Watch project here . To find out about Galaxy Zoo, visit here . As wildlife struggles, we urgently need new ocean sanctuaries in the Antarctic and across the world. With these in place, animals like these penguins have the space to recover and adapt to our rapidly changing climate, safe from harmful industries.

Many populations of wildlife are remote, inaccessible or difficult to monitor. The advent of sub-metre, Very-High-Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery may enable us study these animals in a much more efficient way. Most penguins are monogamous. This means that male and female pairs will mate exclusively with each other for the duration of mating season. In many cases, the male and female will continue to mate with each other for most of their lives. For example, research has found that chinstrap penguins re-paired with the same partner 82 percent of the time and gentoo penguins re-paired 90 percent of the time.

It’s always a good time to celebrate the majesty and silliness of penguins. Here’s a rundown of the most fascinating, funny or important penguin facts we could find. 1. Giant penguins once roamed the planet They also had dark protuberances where their noses and mouths ought to have been. Whether or not he believed the protrusion to be a natural part of their physical features or some sort of protective (or possibly breathing) apparatus is not clear. I usually don't review books for children this young (the book aims at children between the ages of 6 and 8) but when I read Penguins who had been the star attractions at Edinburgh Zoo for over a century had their beaks put out of joint when pandas arrived there a few years ago. Some of them resorted to a dirty protest aimed at the queues of panda visitors. 9. Penguins need our helpDiscovery of new colonies by Copernicus Sentinel-2 reveals good and bad news for emperor penguins by Peter Fretwell and Phil Trathan is published in the journal Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation here