The Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page
(I
asm
e firm fcrfflfcwen
3
nan the I
f
L
Multitude of Penguin at the
ine penguin,1 that amazingly human-
j esaue bird of Antarctlo sea coasts, to
'" ' "sain the honor of wholly supplanting . -'
'Jfo "monkey as bolder among the animals -3f
all the man-like records T In almoit
Identical phraseology every Antarctic
explorer-author describes the penguin as
iiavlng a startling - resemblance to "a
short-legged, plump little gentleman in .
Immaculate evening clothes." All agree
that the social customs of Mr. and Mrs.
Penguin, their morals, their etiquette,
their energetic attention to business and
their lively appreciation ot sport give
them human resemblances to a degree
that Is uncannj.
The latest biographer of Mr. and Mrs.
Penguin and the millions of their race
which congregate at the Cape Adare and
other. Antarctlo , rookeries during the
mating season, beginning with the dawn
of the Antarctic Spring about the middle
of October adds quite astonishing human
details to the many furnished by hU
predecessors. This sympathetic observer
is" Dr. O. Murray Levlck, it N., zoologist
to the British Antarctlo expedition ol
1910-13. .
The results of Dr. Levick's painstaking
and scientific Inquiry Into the characters
manners, customs and habits of Mr. ant
Mrs. Penguin are contained In his recent
book, "Antarctic Penguins," published by
William Helnemann, London. The vol
ume la profusely Illustrated In the innst
satisfactory and scientific way hat la,
with "snapshot" photographs. Thua you .
are able to see Mr. and Mrs. Penguin in
the midst of their domestic actlvltis,
with the Interesting preliminary ot court
ship, and to observe the political confer
ences and social recreations of the pen
guin colony throughout the communistic
breeding season.
1 Here Is corroboration In many detain
of the growing scientific belief that this
strange example of the bird species ba
social Instincts, desires, emotions and
mental capacities more closely allied to
those of man than are exhibited by any
other animal. For example, most animals
play, after a fashion, particularly young
animals, but their play Is rarely more
than a playful Imitation of the senou
acta which govern their Uvea.
A cat plays with a ball of yarn just as
It tantalizes the captured mouse which
soon it will eat. Lambkins frolic with
one another In Infantile Imitation of the
grim battles between the rams of the
Bock. The play of dogs Is of the earns
character. Even the mischievous mon
key exhibits no invention, no construe
tlveness, In its antics. No familiar spe
cies of animal demonstrates any syste
matic plan for pure recreation.
So far as Is known the penguin alone
possesses this distinctive human attri
bute. Dr. Levick reports this striking In
stance: "On leaving their nests the birds made
their way down the ice-foot to the sea
Ice. Here they would generally wait
about and Join up with others until
enough had gathered together to make
VP a decent little party, which would
then aet off gaily for the water. They
were now in the greatest possible spirits,
chattering loudly and frolicking with one
another, and playfully chasing about, oc
casionally Indulging In a little friendly
sparring with their nippers.
"Arrived at the water's edge, almost
always the same procedure was gone
through. The object of every bird In the
party aeemed to be to get one of the
others to enter the water first They
would crowd up to the very edge of the
Ice, dodging about and trying to push
one another In. Sometimes those be
hind would nearly aucceed in pushing the
front rank In. who then would Just re
cover themselves in time, and, rushing
around to the rear, endeavor to turn the
tables on the vthers.
V. ,
Rookery Gathered at the Ice
root, Where They
March About and Hold
Long Confab
- "'Before Streaming v
Into the Ocean for Food
and to Clean
Themselves.
"Occasionally one actually would get
pushed in, only to turn quickly under
water and bound out again onto the Ice
like a cork shot out ot a bottle. Then
for some time they would chase one an
other about, seemingly bent on having a
good game, each bird intent on finding
any excuse from being the Crst In.
Sometimes this would last a few minutes,
sometimes for the better part of an hour,
until suddenly the whole band would
change its tactics, and one ot the number
start to run at full tilt along the edge of
the Ice, the rest following closely on its
heels, until at last he would take a clean
header Into the water. One after another
the rest of the party followed him, all
taking off exactly from the spot whe'e
he had entered, and following one an
other so quickly as to have the appear
ance of a lot of shot poured out of a
bottle into the water.
"A dead silence would ensue till a few
seconds later, when they would all come
to the surface some twenty or thirty
yards out, and start rolling about and
splashing in the water, cleaning them
selves and making sounds exactly like a
lot of boys calling out and chaffing one
another.
"So extraordinary was the whole scene
that on first witnessing It we were over
come with astonishment, and it seemed
to us almost impossible that the little
creatures whose antics we were watching
were actually birds and not human
beings."
Other , Antarctlo explorers have re
ported penguin recreation conducted In
a manner even more humanlike. Not
only do these birds prsctUe the sports
mansllke art of tobogganing but they con
struct their own toboggan elides in th
most thorough and workmanlike manner
The circumstances make it perfectly
plain that their constructive efforts are
tor no other purpose than that ot promot
t - : ' '. i
... ..... " - e V- r -.-A t -W y ... r - - .... . . , , . . . .. . f, . . A
4 "v
15
ing a favorite recreation. The surveyors
ot the penguin tobogganing party will
first select, with real engineering skill,
the mrmt adaptable location for the slide
to br constructed along the rising shore
line 'here the gradient is sufficient and
offering no serious natural obstacles.
Then the whole party will march, chat
tering, to the top, where the engineer of
the party will begin operations.
Dropping on his sturdy breast In the
snow, kicking out behind with his short
legs, and paddling with his flipper-like
wings, he ploughs his way along in the
downward direction already carefully sur
veyed. He is followed one by one by the
others of the party, pursuing the same
methods and leaving In their wake a
smooth, well-packed slide. Often the slide
thus painstakingly constructed Is half a
mile or more in length, winding here and
there down the slope and ending on the
flat beach or shore ice.
When the slide is finished there is a
great confab and apparent exchange of
oplniona concerning its merits. Present
ly, led by Engineer Penguin, the party
plod laboriously back to the top, where
there is much excitement and another
confab. Finally Engineer Penguin, ac
cepting his responsibilities with all the
grace and authority of his human con
frere, launches himself and toboggans to
the bottom. Seeing that he lands safely,
all the rest of the party, chattering in
evident delight, follow his example.
That the purpose of this is recreation,
pure and simple, is now more than ever
apparent Again and again the whole
penguin party waddles on Us short legs
to the top and seizes the brief but Joyous
pleasure of the downward rush. This
keeps up until the birds are too tired to
do any more uphill plodding.
Penguins do not mate until they gather
at the rookerlea in vast multitudes at the
beginning of the breeding season. Singly
Copyright, 1315, by the Star Company.
lJLiMJIMI. ! l"" II t I 'i'. l IIMIlfclMlWlillS I I Ml Si km HI 111 eA
The Charmingly Dainty Courriip
of Young Mr. Penguin and Hi
Bride-to-Be Preceded by
Sharp Map
from Her
"Flipper"
Which He Has
Endured Most
Humbly, Like
a Wise
Human Lover.
and in small groups they arrive from all
directions, swimming for hundreds of
miles and waddling on their short legs
over long expanses of ice floe. They ar
rive at the rookeries tired, but fat and
immaculate as to plumage.
Then the most strenuous month or six
weeks period of their lives begins. Until
they have mated and built their nests of
pebbles, and Mrs. Penguin has laid her
two eggs and the incubation period is
well under way, no male or female pen
guin at the densely crowded rookery
wastes time in sleeping or in seeking
food. For more than three weeks their
absolute fast, is unbroken.
Pebbles forming the nests have to be
constantly guarded against belated,
"grafting" couples, and lively combats
with beaks and whirling flippers never
cease. Before this there have been in
numerable duels between rival male pen
guins to decide which shall be the suc
cessful suitor for belles of the penguin
colony. These young Miss Penguins
show their inclination toward matrimony
' by immediately pre-empting an old nest
and sitting in it. Suitors make their
"proposals" by approaching with pebbles
In their beaks and dropping them within
the reach ot the sitting charmer. She
"accepts" by building these pebbles into
her nest The accepted husband proceeds
immediately to share all the labors ot
nest building and keeping warm the two
eggs during the month or eo of incuba
tion. There are two eggs with white shells,
through which the greenish contents are
faintly aeon. The temperature of these
last daya ot October and the first of No
vember is often below the freezing point
Mrs. Penguin carefully places the eggs
in the sest so that the rear one will rest
en her warm feet, while the other is
burled in the feathers of her breast
When her husband relieves Ler once a
Great Britain Rights Reserved-
i '
r '-' ' v !
V" - - : .
i- " : . - V.' :-!, : ,
? ... . . - . .-..--..
Here Mrs, Penguin, About to Go for a Swim, Is Scolding tSy
Penguin Soundly Because He Doe Not Properly Cover
the Egg in the Pebble Nest. He Must Rest the
Rear of the Two Egg on Hi Feet While the
Forward One Is Buried In the Feathers
of Hi Breast . .
day at this task she usually scolds him
roundly to make him remember the cor
rect position to keep both eggs warm.
He takes his scolding meekly, and does
his best He has already, early in his
courtship, felt the weight of the fair
one's flippers, and is obedient, remem
bering her charming and dainty later ac
ceptance of his woolngs. Following are
some paragraphs from Dr. Levlck's book
relating to the startlingly human actions
of penguins:
"It was not unusual to see a strange
cock paying court to a mated hen in the
absence of her husband until he returned
to drive away the Interloper, but I do not
think that this ever occurred after the
eggs had come end the regular family life
begun, couples after this being perfectly
faithful to one another.
"While one of my companions was sit
ting quietly on some shingle near the
Ice-foot, a penguin approached him, and,
after eyeing him for a little, walked right
up to him and nibbled gently at one of
the legs of his trousers. Then it walked
away, picked up a pebble and came back
with it, dropping it on the ground by his
side. The only explanation of this oc
currence seems to be that the tendering
ot the stone was meant as an overture of
friendship.
"Often a hen would Join in when two
cocks were fighting, occasionally going
first for one and then the other, but I
never saw a cock retaliate on a hen.
"I saw two cocks engaged in a very
fierce fight. After a couple of minutes,
during which each had the other down on
the ground several times, three or four
other penguins ran up and apparently
tried to stop the fight This is the only
construction I can put on their behavior,
as time after time they kept running in
when the two combatants clinched, push
ing their breast In between them, but
making no attempt to fight themselves,
while their more collected appearance
and smooth feathers were in marked con
trast to the angry attitudes of the com
batants. "As a band of spotless bathers return
ing to the rookery, their white breasts
and black , backs glistening with a fine
metallio lustre in the sunlight, met s
dirty and bedraggled party on its way out
from the nesting ground, frequently both
would stop, and the clean and the dirty
would mingle together and chatter with
one another for some minutes. If they
were not speaking words In some lan
guage of their own, their whole appear
ance helled them; and as they stood,
tome In pairs, some in groups of three or
more, chattering amicably together, It be
came evident that they were sociable
animals, glad to meet one another, and.
like many men. pleased with the excuse
to forget for a while their duties at home,
where their mates were waking to be re
lieved for their own spell off the nests.
"I have aald that the tide flowed past
the rookery at the rate of some five or
six knots. Small ice floes are continually
drifting past, and as one of these arrived
at the top of the ice-foot it would be
boarded by a crowd of penguins, some
times until it could hold no more. This
'excursion boat,' as we used to call It,
would float Its many occupant down the
whole length of the Ice-foot, and It it
Newest Extraordin
ary Discoveries
About the Funny
Little Bird People
Who "Own" the
Antarctic, How
They Count, Talk,
Promenade, Hold
Games and Even
Keep Lent"-Just
Like Real Humana
: i
f r ' i
Mother Penguin Giving Walking
sons to Her Half-urown
Little One.
J
Mr. Penguin Carrying to Mrs. Ten
guin Large Pebbles in His Bcek
While She Builds Her Nest
with Them.
passed close to the edge those that rodd
on the floes would shout at the knots of
penguins gathered along the ice foot who
would shout at them In reply, so that a
gay bantering set? mod to accompany tnrlf
passage past the rookery."
Similar instances are almost endleeaj
You are left with the Impression thai
Mr. and Mrs. Penguin, ot Cape Adaiq
and Mr. and Mrs. Human Being, of Any
where, are really brother and slstart
"under their skin.
. .- v- ' ' .,