Marching With Penguins
"March of the Penguins" clearly struck a chord in this country. It's been a runaway hit at the box office and children all over the country are dreaming of a close encounter with these fascinating creatures.
Rene Syler showed the way on The Early Show Thursday during
With Pete squirming on her lap, Syler discovered some surprising information from Sea World's Ginny Busch, including the fact that these birds actually come from warmer climates, not the freezing wilderness of the emperor penguins in the movie.
"They are from Chile and Argentina," Busch said. "Many people don't know that there are temperate species of penguins. They exist out there but they are all from the southern hemisphere."
The Magellanics are much smaller than emperor penguins, but are strong and fast. "They can swim up to 15-20 miles in the water so they look like they are flying, which is very cool," said Busch.
In the wild, they have a taste for delicacies such as squid and krill. "They'll gorge themselves out in the Pacific Ocean and then they'll go up onto the Argentina coast and go down into their burrows to keep cool. These guys live underneath the ground."
On a more personal note, Syler discovered that Pete and Penny are more than good friends. They are mates, with at least a couple of offspring.
Sea World has an exhibit it calls Penguin Encounter, where visitors can see more than 200 penguins, and even get to touch a few.