h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Pervy Penguin Porn - A22837188
Author: SWL™ The spirit is willing, but the flesh is delicious - U1775547

Ummm?

Great stuff. very amusing and informative.
I wish all dates were as cheap as a pebble.

Phew.

I thought the first post would be one of moral indignation

Is there something is the air? Water? Everything I'm reading at the minute seems to be about sex. Hmph.

Keep it up!

I'm not quite sure whether the title reflects what is actually going on, to me, it looks more like penguin prostitution - but then how would I know

Yeah, I know.

But I like the title so much I think I'd rather re-write the entry than change it

Bel's right about the title, it needs to be some sort of written or recorded representation in order to be considered 'porn'. This is some kind of live show. I'm sure you can find something equally amusing!

Pernicious Pervy Pimping Penguins Promote Prostitution?

Street-walking in the snow?

Penguin Prostitution?

Antarctic Vice?

Birds Can Be B's Too?

Penguin Classic
Pebble-flash
Antarctic Exposure

Pebble flash reminded me of another trick Adelie penguins get up to. I've updated the entry to include it.

Believe me, after one of my home-made prawn vindaloos, it IS possible to hit the toilet from the bottom of the stairs.

B

Brilliant SWL

This is very good, SWL, but - not wanting to sound rude - is it all true?

'A brief experiment was made by the Adelie in the early Twentieth Century making nests from ice and snow, but this was abandoned when they had difficulty finding the nests again if they wandered off.' - ?

I've found a report on penguin poo, specifically about Adelie and Chinstrap penguins, that says:

'The expelled material hits the ground maximally 40 +/- 12cm away from the bird.'

http://www.springerlink.com/content/a9j4vvpattrukeyn/fulltext.pdf

The pressures quoted to fire poo this distance are up to five times human blood pressure, apparently, so 3m sounds quite unlikely.

It seems that the males make the nests, not the females, but when the females arrive they will help to gather stones in the way you describe. There is a huge amount of further information here, most it surprisingly interesting:

http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/vecase/Behavior/Spring2005/Harshaw/MatSys.html

Sorry to poop on the fireworks; it's a well-written article as usual, but I am dubious about some of the content.

Well, shucks The ice nests bit may be a little artistic licence, but the rest is all based on published research

A BBC news article : http://news1.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_60000/60302.stm

A triva site quoting the same researchers as I quote, from a book that's sitting out in my car - I'll get it later when it stops raining

http://www.sentex.net/~tntcomm/kwfn/Penguin.htm

Further reading: Pages 526 - 528 in the 1998 issue of the The Auk (Volume 115, No. 2).

A three paragraph overview can be found in the People Magazine article Vice on Ice (April 6, 1998, page 114).

The defecation issue is also described in Why Pandas Do Handstands by Augustus Brown, Bantam Press, ISBN 0-593-05693-0. This gives a lesser distance for the faeces, but I preferred the other version I found for effect. However, if the consensus is at the lower figure, it's not a problem to re-write it. I'm sure I can still squeeze some comic effect out of it

I didn't dispute that the prostitution happens!

The the trivia site (the BBC link isn't working for me) doesn't mention females building the nests, or the projectile poo. It's those parts that I think you've got wrong. The second link also has lots more interesting information, if you care to include it, but I'm more concerned about the bits that seem to be wrong

You're right, that second link is interesting. Loads of material there. The piece I read didn't mention the males starting the nests, but I think that was a sin of omission to progress more swiftly to the meat of the story.

Yup, this entry can definately be improved as it looks like the facts are even more interesting than the humour.

Thanks Skankyrich - I'll look at it again over the weekend

(Currently putting notes together on a piece about the Titanic and the jinx woman who possibly contributed to the disaster )