Penguins :: essays research papers

Myopic little custody in tuxedos, or highly efficientland/water animals? new-fashioned research indicatestheres more to penguins than meets the philia. Ifyouve every wondered what it would be like tobe fitted to see as clearly under water as you fundamenton land, just ask the nearest penguin.Most aquaticanimals are short-sighted on land. Most terrestrialanimals (and that includes us) are far-sighted underwater. But tecs have sight thatpenguins can apparently see equally rise up in twainenvironments, because of the unique structure oftheir eyes. Penguins have to be able to see come upunder water because their diet consists mainly ofplankton, molluscs, crustaceans, and the inevitablefish. Through a special slowing-down of their heartrate theyre able, like many other dive animals, tostay submerged long enough to search out and cover whatever catches their fancy. On dry land,its a different story-or has been up to now.Waddling on on their flat little feet, eyes fixedintently o n the ground, penguins appear myopic,inefficient and generally out of place. In fact the rearward is true. During a recent stay on theFalkland Islands, a Canadian researcherdiscovered that penguins are able to recognizeindividuals and navigate the rocky terrain on whichthey live quite well. Long of body and short of leg,they probably moil their heads forward as an aidto balance. And as for looking at the ground,theyre merely-like us-keeping an eye on wheretheyre going. The human eye is adapted for aerialvision, which is why scuba divers-or even you andI in the local swimming pool-must wear gape ora face mask to re-introduce air in front of our eyesin order to see clearly. Among vertebrates ingeneral, the tinkers dam eye is frequently described as themost efficient. Its superior quality, combine withthe fact that a large number of birds-cormorants,pelicans, seagulls, even ducks, as well aspenguins-get their food from water, obviously