ANTARCTIC ADVENTURE AND RESEARCH 



Penguins. — There are many species of penguins but 

 they are all restricted to the southern hemisphere. Even 

 the fossil forms do not occur north of the equator. 

 As we have seen (p. 105) several fossil penguins have 

 been discovered near Graham Land, while there are 

 others from Patagonia and New Zealand. It seems 

 likely that the penguins separated off from other birds 

 early in their history. There is no doubt that originally 

 the penguin used the wing for flight, though now it 

 has degenerated to a flipper. It is quaint to see the 

 penguin still tuck its beak under the flipper, an ancient 

 habit apparently, for it cannot gain much warmth 

 therefrom. Wilson states that the feather tracts are 

 distributed like a lizard's scales and the arrangement 

 is in no way as advanced as that of a domestic fowl. 

 The largest penguin, the Emperor, has primitive leg 

 bones in which the three parallel shank bones are still 

 distinct, though in all other birds they are fused. 



Of the seven or eight common penguins, only two 

 occur in the Antarctic. These are the emperor and 

 Adelie penguins. The emperor penguin {Aptenodytes 

 forsteri) is surely the most unusual of all living birds. 

 Some of his primitive characteristics have been men- 

 tioned, but his breeding habits are unique. No other 

 bird and surely few other forms of life choose the 

 middle of the fiercest winter on earth for their breed- 

 ing season ! Only two regions are known where this 

 penguin lays its eggs. The first was discovered at 

 Cape Crozier in 1902, and the second in Queen Mary 

 Land in 191 2. In a small bight, just where the edge 

 of the great Ross Barrier ice touches the cliffs of 



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