Gentoo, King, and Rockhopper Penguins, Research Paper Example

Introduction

One among the most studied and critical creatures on our planet for their unique and long adaptation under adverse conditions are penguins. These animals can survive in unusual situations such as the world’s coldest winters, harsh weather, and hostile animal environments. There are X number of penguin species in the world, with Gentoo, King, and Rockhopper penguins as the most popular species to human beings. These three penguin species are different and unique in features and coloring from each other (Marshall, Deere, Little, Snipp, Goulder, & Mayer?Clarke, 2016. The three main penguin species, which include Gentoo, King, and Rockhopper have differences in their nature and behavior as observed in the Indianapolis Zoo.

The largest penguin species is the King penguin, followed by the next largest species, the Emperor penguins. Gentoo species differ from other penguin species; they are the largest marine resource consumers of all sea birds. The species are 3 feet in height, weighing between 25 and 31 pounds (Chiew, Butler, Sherwen, Coleman, Fanson, & Hemsworth, 2019). They also have a golden coloring on their neck. On the contrary, female and male King penguins look closely similar, but their main difference is that the males tend to be larger. The species has dark black and brown heads with silver and grey parts of their back (Marshall, Deere, Little, Snipp, Goulder, & Mayer?Clarke, 2016). King penguins also have a black orange-spotted bill with a slim and long body and a curve.

The King penguin species also can survive in freezing conditions with four feather layers as one of their adaptive features. Their outer feather layer is fundamental for waterproofing as it preens them with oil from the tail. The other layers are vital to offering overall insulation. The penguins can consume saltwater due to their body adaptation to excess salt through its glands. Most of the climates where King penguins survive are adverse that other creatures may not survive. They are mostly found in Tierra del Fuego and Falkland Islands in Northern Antarctica. Most of the King penguin mate in Prince Edward and the Crozet Islands (Lopate, 2001). Therefore, environmental in habitation and body features differentiate King and Gentoo species.

Rockhopper penguin species are approximately 2 inches tall, weighing about 12 pounds. The penguin species have huge orange bills. Their bodies are well smoothed-out to adapt to water activities such as swimming. The species also has a wide span and strong legs pink in color. Their body structure for adaptation also involves webbed feet, adaptive and feasible for water movement and ashore. The penguins depend on their webbed feet to stay balanced on the ground and water navigation. One of Rockhopper penguins’ unique characteristics is they survive in freezing atmospheres (Yamahashi, Yamaguchi, Inagaki, Okuyama, Tajima, Horita, & Bando, 2015). They are mostly found in Sub-Antarctic and the Antarctic Peninsula.

Gentoo penguins undergo an annual molting process that creates room for new feathers by pushing off the older ones. The molting process takes up to four weeks. During the process, the Gentoo penguins spent most of their time out of the water as they lived off the fat stored. Gentoo penguins have three main seasons when they spend much of their time out of water: molting, preening, and mating. The type of penguins does not like spending much time out of water due to their vision differences; they experience vision challenges on land. They also have the diving ability and can dive deep in search of food. The Gentoo penguins use their thorny mouth and tongue element to hold wet food. Gentoo penguins feed on krill, crustaceans, and small fish, similar to King penguins (Burtt, 1889). Their main similarity is that they both swallow food whole.

Although all penguins have diving skills, King penguins have exceptional diving skills compared to Gentoo and Rockhopper, which helps them search for food efficiently. The penguins do not use much energy in the water and hence can swim well and quickly. When searching for food, King penguins dive to depths of up to 300 meters. The King penguins are not land friendly; they stroll, and thus, their interest in spending much time in the water. King penguins also have subgroups within their primary group and depend on vocalization to recognize each other. The species have up to 7 syllables in their vocalizations, which allows them to identify each other uniquely (Burtt, 1889). Their chicks also acknowledge their parent’s sounds from birth. Therefore, more features such as communication define King penguins.

Both Gentoo and King penguins have differences in their mating age: King penguin mate at around three to eight years while Gentoo penguin mate at about six years. Penguin mating depends on location, and more preferably in late October springtime. Rockhopper penguins are describable as climbers; they nest around rocky areas close to water, ensuring that their nest is safe from predators. Mostly, the male and females fight over the strategic nesting location. The male penguins are primarily responsible for the chicks since they can spend more time on land than their female counters. The males have adaptive bodies to the outside conditions as compared to the female counterparts. Therefore, their bodies can stay for longer outside water without food than their female counter, hence the role of taking care of born chicks. The males have to take care of the chicks out of the water until they are grown and stay in the water (Burtt, 1889). Therefore, Rockhopper and King penguins, the most notable penguin species, have substantial differences, making them different.

The Species Conservational Status

The IUCN/The World Conversation Union is one of the strong associations that collaborate government organizations, autonomous states, and non-governmental agencies in protection and maintenance preservation activities in the world. The form of protection for the penguin’s aids in classifying them under the IUCN. All penguin species have other adaptations that counteract their flying weakness among other creatures. One of their crucial dependence abilities is their survival in water. The main challenge they face while in water is agility that threatens their sea consistency. Other challenging situations include their life out of the water, whereby their slow speed and clumsy strolling are significant weaknesses. Therefore, the four critical dangers that define penguin’s life include predators, overfishing, environmental changes, and living space devastation. Penguins at times get caught in the fishing nets. Modern developments such as bridges and streets are destroying penguins’ living environments. Human development and activities are the most threatening aspects of penguin’s survival despite their diverse conditions.

Methods

The Indianapolis Zoo offers unique Zoo features such as the Polk Penguin Conversation Center’s extension. The areas cover approximately 33000 square feet with more than 320000 water gallons. The zoo is favorable for penguin survival, as it offers diving abilities too. The center also provides a crucial environment for live stream perspective on the daily penguin practices and exercises.

Design

The ethogram was the primary determinant for the behavior patterns and penguin observation methods. The main exercise involved movement by sight with the three species socializing and keeping close to their other species. The time for the research was a two-minute interval. Observation and data recording tools such as notepads and ethogram.

Species

The observation and data recording process involved observing the three penguin species: King, Rockhopper, and Gentoo. The process did not take long to differentiate between their size, weight, and their diverse practices. The process would have been more successful observing one species at a time from the Zoo, although that was not possible. The process would also have resulted in crucial data on how both species socialize with one another. The observation process also involved paying keen attention to one female and two males to gain their comparison and contrast. The male King penguins were more attracted and moving to the zookeeper, with the female penguin spending much of its time sleeping on its stomach. Later, the King penguin paid a visit to the children after coming back from the water. The Rockhopper species observation also involved two males and two females. The entire process was enjoyable to observe the penguins’ various features and behavior.

Location

A live cam was conducted at the Polk Conversation Center penguins; starting at 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., the process was smooth. There were no many visitors due to the global Covid-19 pandemic rules. The caregiver was a fundamental element for the observation process; as they dropped anchovies in the water, the penguins showed up to eat them.

Results

The live cam had challenges at some points where the observer could not record some incidents. The primary observation strategy focused on the penguins swimming and playing, among other reaction activities within their habitat area. During the hottest moments, the penguins spent much time in the water, lasting almost an hour. The most playful species was the King penguin at the Indianapolis Zoo.

Interactive display, both the King and Gentoo penguins had little moments of interactive display. Feeding, the Indianapolis Zookeeper participated in one instance of feeding the penguins by throwing anchovies for them into the water. Underwater swimming, for the three penguin species, there was no much underwater swimming observation. Surface Swimming, there was also rare surface swimming except for the female King penguins. Hopping, it was a good day for the penguins since there was more hopping. Diving, most of the penguins were jumping to get in the water. Nest building, the observer did not see any nest-building activities from the penguin’s species. Fighting, the main fighting scenes were during feeding, where most of the species were fighting for food through into the water for them. Walking and Standing, there was much of walking and standing. The King and Gentoo penguins mostly stood in most of the times. Proposing, there was minimally proposing among the penguins. Group play, Gentoo and King penguins were the most sociable species, through standing together and swimming. Lying, the cam involved multiple lying sessions among all the penguin species, with Rockhopper and King species lying most of the time.

Behavior Observation: Gentoo, King, and Rockhopper Penguins

Discussion

Differentiating the different penguin species requiring evaluating their unique characteristics such as color and body shape, as Chiew et al. (2019) argues.  Additionally, the multiple features and shades on their bodies are the most likely and distinctive features that an observer can use to differentiate the species (Bessa, Ratcliffe,, Otero, Sobral, Marques, Waluda, & Xavier, 2019). Although penguins are considered in the birds’ class, they cannot fly. They have unique adaptations in their body that help them survive in water by swimming. There are several other mechanisms that observers can use to differentiate diverse penguin species (Xavier, Trathan, Ceia, Tarling, Adlard, Fox, & Cherel, 2017). Also, their bodies have an adaptation that eases their swimming and diving, especially when searching for food.

Conclusion

All penguin species also have excellent swimming skills, which enhance their survival in water. They mostly prefer spending much of their time in the water than on land. Since penguins are known among the animal groups that survive in adverse climatic conditions, their bodies are adaptive to unusual requirements. They have enough layers of feathers that help them keep warm. The Rockhopper penguins seem unique from the King penguins. They have sight challenges, especially on land, hence spending much of their time in the water. King and Rockhopper penguin species are critical penguin species for study, as one of the unique species in the group.

References

Bessa, F., Ratcliffe, N., Otero, V., Sobral, P., Marques, J. C., Waluda, C. M., … & Xavier, J. C. (2019). Microplastics in gentoo penguins from the Antarctic region. Scientific reports, 9(1), 1-7.

Chiew, S. J., Butler, K. L., Sherwen, S. L., Coleman, G. J., Fanson, K. V., & Hemsworth, P. H. (2019). Effects of regulating visitor viewing proximity and the intensity of visitor behaviour on little penguin (Eudyptula minor) behaviour and welfare. Animals, 9(6), 285.

Marshall, A. R., Deere, N. J., Little, H. A., Snipp, R., Goulder, J., & Mayer?Clarke, S. (2016). Husbandry and enclosure influences on penguin behavior and conservation breeding. Zoo biology, 35(5), 385-397.

Page, P. E. I., Page, P. L. U., & Page, W. W. L. (2015). PenguinConservation. Penguin Conservation, 19(1), 1.

Xavier, J. C., Trathan, P. N., Ceia, F. R., Tarling, G. A., Adlard, S., Fox, D., … & Cherel, Y. (2017). Sexual and individual foraging segregation in Gentoo penguins Pygoscelis papua from the Southern Ocean during an abnormal winter. Plos one, 12(3), e0174850.

Yamahashi, C., Yamaguchi, E., Inagaki, S., Okuyama, H., Tajima, J., Horita, A., … & Bando, G. (2015). Supporting Zoo Visitors’ Scientific Observations through the Picture-story Show. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 167, 85-90.

Appendix: The Operational Definitions/Ethogram