Satellite imagery of the Danger Islands, where scientists discovered previously unknown Adelie penguin colonies. (Image credit: NASA)

Phillips, who arrived to interview Edwards not long after the events in question, was able to photograph the effects this UFO had on the field, including the spot where the support tube had met the soil. Phillips explained: After mating, the female emperor or king penguin will lay a single egg. All other species of penguins lay two eggs. The two parents will take turns holding the eggs between their legs for warmth in a nest. The one exception is the emperor penguin. The female of this species will place the egg on the male's feet to keep warm in his fat folds while she goes out and hunts for several weeks. At this point the perplexed farmer could also discern evenly spaced oval portals — about 12-inches long and 12-inches apart — situated around the lower rim of the “saucer.” Edwards would insist that these portals did not seem to function as windows as he could see a dazzling array of colors radiating from each of the ovals. The colored lights oscillated as if they were spinning behind the portals. Edwards described the craft: Zanfretta's Aliens • Zantegeba • Zanzibar Leopard • Zaratan • Zheng • Zhuhuai • Ziphius (Cuvier's Beaked Whale) • Zitiron • Zmeu • Zuiyo-Maru Carcass And the uncooperative buggers sometimes relocate without bothering to tell the scientists looking for them. "Every time we think that we've found all the penguin colonies," Lynch said, "we soon discover that we find more, or that new colonies are being established over time, because of climate change, for example."Intrigued, Edward’s followed their stares through a grove of trees and was astounded to see what he described as a massive, grayish-green, mushroom- like object — which was perched atop a circular tube — in the meadow adjacent to his barn. Of the 17 penguin species, the most endangered is New Zealand’s yellow-eyed penguin ( Megadyptes antipodes): only around 4,000 birds survive in the wild today. But other species are in trouble, including the erect-crested penguin ( Eudyptes sclateri) of New Zealand, which has lost approximately 70 percent of its population over the past 20 years, and the Galapagos penguin, which has lost more than 50 percent since the 1970s.

The first bird actually called a penguin was the now-extinct Great Auk found in the North Atlantic. Tragically, early explorers and their contemporaries found Great Auks a little too tasty, and the birds were all killed off. Edwards estimated that he was separated from the odd entities by about 70-feet of land, two wire fences, and a smattering of cows. The gutsy farmer was not pleased by the fact that his cows were being spooked or that his property was being trespassed on, even if said trespassers happened to hail from out of this world. The farmer — no doubt fueled by a combination of curiosity and adrenaline — climbed the first gate and started walking directly toward the ostensibly alien interlopers. The study found a number of colonies located far offshore, situated on sea ice that has formed around icebergs that had grounded in shallow water. These colonies, up to 180 km offshore, are a surprising new finding in the behaviour of this increasingly well-known species. The object just looked like a big shell, grayish-green looking outfit. And underneath there were oblong holes where the lights were coming out. They were so bright you couldn't see when you got up there… as if a color wheel was turning inside the thing.” Most penguins are monogamous. This means that male and female pairs will mate exclusively with each other for the duration of mating season. In many cases, the male and female will continue to mate with each other for most of their lives. For example, research has found that chinstrap penguins re-paired with the same partner 82 percent of the time and gentoo penguins re-paired 90 percent of the time.

Feathers are quite important to penguins living around Antarctica during the winter. Emperor penguins ( Aptenodytes forsteri) have the highest feather density of any bird, at 100 feathers per square inch. In fact, the surface feathers can get even colder than the surrounding air, helping to keep the penguin’s body stays warm. The citizen science part of this comes in because there's just so much of Antarctica," Lynch said. "The way that we find penguin colonies is by and large through manual searching of imagery: image after image, foot by foot, scanning the coastline for evidence of penguin guano." Most penguins swim underwater at around four to seven miles per hour (mph), but the fastest penguin—the gentoo ( Pygoscelis papua)—can reach top speeds of 22 mph! In comparison, the worlds smallest penguins are the Little Blue penguins. They are just over 30cm high on their flippers. (Yes, you’re thinking you could fit one in your bag, and keep it in your bath, arent you…?). 3. You’ll only find wild penguins in the Southern Hemisphere I have no hesitation in recommending this really funny story with lots of humour, great illustrations and pacy action that will appeal to young independent readers. It is divided into short chapters, making it easy for them to read in relatively small sections - though I suspect many will really want to read it to the end just to find out what happens!

Discovery of new colonies by Copernicus Sentinel-2 reveals good and bad news for emperor penguins by Peter Fretwell and Phil Trathan is published in the journal Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation here Greenpeace has been working with scientists to study penguin colonies in the Antarctic, and they’ve made some scary findings. Penguin numbers in the colonies they studied have dropped by almost 60% – with some colonies losing as much as 77% of their population since they were last counted in the early 1970s. The scientists here are talking about a ‘fundamentally changed’ ecosystem, and say that all the evidence they have points to climate change as the main culprit. All but two penguin species breed in large colonies for protection, ranging from 200 to hundreds of thousands of birds. (There’s safety in numbers!) But living in such tight living quarters leads to an abundance of penguin poop— so much that it stains the ice! The upside is that scientists can locate colonies from space just by looking for dark ice patches. Such estimates are valuable data that's otherwise difficult to acquire, she said. "Even though penguins are the most charismatic and maybe the most obvious wildlife to survey in Antarctica, until recently, we knew relatively little about how many penguins there were in Antarctica and how their abundance was distributed because surveying Antarctica is so difficult."Another adaptive gland—the oil (also called preen) gland—produces waterproofing oil. Penguins spread this across their feathers to insulate their bodies and reduce friction when they glide through the water. Trouble On Planet Wait-Your-Turn is the first video, as it sees twins Jason and Michelle dropped off at their grandma's house. After some scenes, the two go into the attic, and they find a telescope, which Michelle decides she will look first because she is the oldest, and the oldest gets to choose (which is a dumb excuse). Finding a toy spaceship, Jason puts the ceramic penguins his sister was playing with, but after dropping it, it comes to life, and the penguins, Zidgel, Midgel, Fidgel, and Kevin, choose to have him come aboard via the Gleezle, which allows him to shrink to their size, to help them on a mission on Planet Wait-Your-Turn, which mirrors what Jason has gone through. Fossil evidence shows that penguins evolved before the dinosaurs died out, and there are remains of giant, people-sized, prehistoric penguins. 2. The world’s smallest penguin stands just over 30cm high It’s always a good time to celebrate the majesty and silliness of penguins. Here’s a rundown of the most fascinating, funny or important penguin facts we could find. 1. Giant penguins once roamed the planet The shape of a galaxy tells you about its history: it tells you about when it accreted material, when it collided with other galaxies, when it formed stars and all sorts of other things," Lintott said. "But astronomers are quite good at getting images of galaxies and less good at sorting through the data." Hence, turning to the public. After a brief training session, volunteers are turned loose on the scientists' supply of images.

I think it's best read as a buddy project between parent and child, as I think the words might be a bit too difficult for even an 8-year-old (but, I'm hardly an expert on the subject as I didn't know any English when I was eight), although there is a glossary for some of the words and also discussion questions. The illustrations really make this book even nicer. I'm a bit older than suggested, but still had a great time reading it. I'll definitely keep this book in mind when looking for a present for a kid. I thought I was going right up to it. I got up there and there it was. I just walked up against a wall.” The shape of all penguins makes them aerodynamic. It is the perfect shape for gliding through the water as they swim. Editor's note: You can learn more about how to participate in the Penguin Watch project here . To find out about Galaxy Zoo, visit here .

As soon as he lobbed the second stone, the scuttling, green critters swiftly disappeared behind the shaft supporting the craft, presumably into an access portal that was concealed from the farmer. It was then that the strange UFO tilted toward him not once, but twice. On the third lurch the UFO actually began silently ascending off the frozen Earth. U-28 Creature • UB-85 Atrocity • Ucu • Ufiti • UFO • Ugjuknarpak • Ular Pendek • Umakan • Umdhlebi • Umibōzu • Unicorn • Unknown Norwegian Creature • Up-island Spider • Upsweep • Urayuli • Urco • Ushi-Oni • USS Stein Monster