Skip to main content

Pinned Post

Battle of Iwo Jima Facts, Significance, Photos, & Map

 Battle of Iwo Jima Date 19 February – 26 March 1945 (1 month and 1 week) Location  Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, Japan Result  American victory USAAF fighter aircraft able to escort B-29's on missions to Japan. Americans gain an emergency landing base for damaged aircraft returning from missions on Japan. Belligerents  United States  Japan Commanders and leaders U.S. Navy: Chester W. Nimitz Raymond A. Spruance Marc A. Mitscher William H. P. Blandy U.S. Marine Corps: Holland M. Smith Harry Schmidt Graves B. Erskine Clifton B. Cates Keller E. Rockey Tadamichi Kuribayashi † Takeichi Nishi † Sadasue Senda † Rinosuke Ichimaru † Units involved American: Ground units: V Amphibious Corps 3rd Marine Division 4th Marine Division 5th Marine Division 147th Infantry Regiment (separate) Aerial units: Seventh Air Force Naval units: 5th Fleet Joint Expeditionary Force (TF 51) Amphibious Support Force (TF 52) Attack Force (TF 53) Expeditionary Troops (TF 56) Fast Carrier Force (T...
Post a Comment

King Penguin

King Penguin

COMMON NAME

 King Penguin

SCIENTIFIC NAME

 Aptenodytes patagonicus

TYPE

 Birds

DIET

 Carnivore

AVERAGE LIFE SPAN IN THE WILD

 26 years

SIZE

 31 to 35 inches

WEIGHT

 30 to 45 pounds

Scientific classification

Kingdom

Animali

Phylum

Chordat

Class

Ave

Order

Sphenisciforme

Family

Spheniscida

Genus

Aptenodyte

Species

A. patagonicus


king penguin, (Aptenodytes patagonicus), second largest member of the penguin order (Sphenisciformes), characterized by its dignified, upright posture, long bill, and vivid coloration. Although many ornithologists divide the species into two subspecies, Aptenodytes patagonicus patagonicus and A. patagonicus halli, some ornithologists claim that such a separation is unnecessary. King penguins are found on several Antarctic and subantarctic islands; breeding populations of A. patagonicus patagonicus occur on South Georgia, the Falkland Islands, and the South Sandwich Islands, whereas those of A.patagonicus halli inhabit the Crozet Islands, the Kerguelen Islands, the Prince Edward Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, and Macquarie Island. The species bears a striking resemblance to its larger but less colourful relative, the emperor penguin (A. forsteri).

Physical features


Adults have black feathers on their back, white feathers on their chest and underside, and bright orange feathers on their ear patches and just below their throat. Adults also display an orange teardrop-shaped patch on the lower part of the bill. Fully grown king penguins may reach 85–95 cm (33–37 inches) in length and weigh 14–17 kg (about 31–37 pounds), with males weighing slightly more than females. The plumage of juveniles is similar to that of adults; however, many of their black feathers have gray tips, yellow feathers cover the ear patches, and grayish white feathers colour the lower neck. King penguin chicks are covered with a thick down of dark brown feathers until they molt at 10–12 months of age.

Predators and prey

Although king penguins may eat squid and crustaceans, nearly all of their diet is made up of fish, especially lantern fish. Barracudinas and escolars (snake mackerels) are also consumed. Adults and juveniles are prey for leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonyx) and killer whales (Ornicus orca), whereas giant fulmars (Macronectes giganteus), skuas (Catharacta), and snowy sheathbills (Chionis alba) prey upon eggs and chicks.

Nesting and breeding


Most king penguin populations breed twice in three years, with a few populations producing offspring once every other year. Breeding occurs in dense colonies of thousands of individuals, usually along flat shoreline areas adjacent to the Southern Ocean. A single egg is produced on a 14- to 18-month cycle, and the timing of an individual pair depends on the success or failure of the previous breeding attempt. To attract a female, the male engages in a behaviour called an ecstatic display, in which he produces a trumpet call and stretches his head upward to become as tall as possible. Both partners then participate in a visual display in which the head is shaken or alternately thrown back and dropped downward toward the chest. The pair is monogamous throughout the remainder of the breeding season.

Egg laying can occur anytime between November and March of the first year in the sequence. In a manner similar to that of the emperor penguin, the egg is placed on the tops of the feet of one of the parents, and the adult covers the egg with its abdomen. The egg is held against a layer of highly vascularized skin (brood patch). Each parent takes a turn holding the egg while the other returns to the sea to feed. Roughly 54 days later a chick emerges from the egg. For the first month or more after hatching, the chick continues to be warmed by the feet and brood patch of alternating parents, in addition to being fed, until it is large enough to survive on its own. During the subsequent 313-day fledging period, both parents forage for extended periods, and the chick may go 3–5 months between feedings. While its parents are away, the chick will gather with other young in crèches (groups of young) for protection. The young become completely independent at the end of the fledging period and become sexually mature at about six years old, with some individuals breeding successfully as early as four years old. King penguins have a maximum life span of 26 years in the wild and 41 years in captivity.

Conservation status

The IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species ranks the king penguin as a species of least concern. Ecologists maintain that there are between one million and two million breeding pairs worldwide, and this number is increasing. During the 19th and 20th centuries king penguins were harvested for blubber, oil, eggs, and feathers until a commercial hunting ban was put into place in 1969. Although poaching has continued, it has been insignificant.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grey Crowned Crane - Facts, Diet & Habitat

Gray Crowned Crane COMMON NAME  Gray crowned cranes SCIENTIFIC NAME  Balearica regulorum TYPE  Birds DIET  Omnivore SIZE  Three feet tall WEIGHT  Eight pounds Scientific classification Kingdom Animalia Phylum Chordata Class Aves Order Gruiformes Family Gruidae Genus Balearica Species B. regulorum Conservation status Endangered Gray crowned cranes are every bit as majestic as their name suggests. One of 15 species of crane, these long-legged birds have gray bodies, white wings with brown and gold feathers, white cheeks, and bright red gular sacs underneath their chins. Most strikingly, a spray of stiff golden feathers forms a crown around their heads. Crowned cranes—which also include the black crowned species (Balearica povonina) are the most ancient of the cranes, predating their relatives by tens of millions of years. The gray crowned crane is the national bird of Uganda and has two subspecies, the eastern African gray crowned crane and southern African ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pistol history & facts

 Pistol (weapon) Browning Hi Power, a single-action 9-mm semiautomatic pistol. pistol, small firearm designed for one-hand use. According to one theory, pistols owe their name to the city of Pistoia, Italy, where handguns were made as early as the late 15th century. Flintock pistol, c. 1650 Dating from the 16th century, the earliest practical pistols typically were single-shot muzzle-loading arms employing wheel-lock or various flintlock ignition systems, and they evolved simultaneously with shoulder weapons such as the harquebus, musket, and fowling gun. Such handguns were produced in a wide range of sizes and calibres, from large military “horse” pistols to small pocket and muff pistols for personal protection. The adoption of percussion ignition in the 1830s allowed the design of more-complex repeating pistols, notably the pepperbox and the revolver. In turn, the advent of the self-contained metallic cartridge in the 1860s allowed the convenience of breech loading and ultimately...
Post a Comment
Read more

Islamic calendar-Months, Definition, & Facts

 Islamic calendar Months of Islamic calendar Islamic calendar, also called Hijrī calendar or Muslim calendar, dating system used in the Islamic world for religious purposes. (Most countries now use the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes.) It is based on a year of 12 months: Muḥarram, Ṣafar, Rabīʿ al-Awwal, Rabīʿ al-Thānī, Jumādā al-Awwal, Jumādā al-Thānī, Rajab, Shaʿbān, Ramaḍān (the month of fasting), Shawwāl, Dhū al-Qaʿdah, and Dhū al-Ḥijjah. Each month begins approximately at the time of the new moon. The months are alternately 30 and 29 days long except for the 12th, Dhū al-Ḥijjah, the length of which is varied in a 30-year cycle intended to keep the calendar in step with the true phases of the moon. In 11 years of this cycle, Dhū al-Ḥijjah has 30 days, and in the other 19 years it has 29. Thus, the year has either 354 or 355 days. No other leap days or months are intercalated, so that the named months do not remain in the same seasons but retrogress through the entire solar...
Post a Comment
Read more