An Emperor with disappearing empire
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| Art for Earth, Watercolour painting, Emperor Penguin |
The more I learnt about the birds the more I love them. They show me the amazement and secret of nature That once they disappear their secret (our knowledge) will be lost forever. They are wonderful treasure. By chance, I tumble on the subject of painting birds. Through painting I learnt to connect with them.
The emperor penguin (Aptenodytes
forsteri) is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is
endemic to Antarctica. The ice sheet
becomes smaller and so is his kingdom. His ability to adapt to cold is
remarkable. The emperor penguin breeds
in the coldest environment of any bird species; air temperatures may reach -40
°C (-40 °F), and wind speeds may reach 144 km/h (89 mph). Water temperature is
a frigid -1.8 °C (28.8 °F), which is much lower than the emperor penguin's
average body temperature of 39 °C (102 °F). Emperor penguin adapts comfortably
to pressure and low oxygen pressure of up to 40 times that of the surface,
which in most other terrestrial organisms would cause barotraumas. The bones of
the penguin are solid rather than air-filled, which eliminates the risk of
mechanical barotraumas.
Emperor penguin is really famous. It appeared in movies, Life in the Freezer,
Planet Earth, Frozen Planet,. Happy Feet, Surf's Up and More than 30 countries
have depicted the bird on their stamps.
Bringing attention to the fact that these birds are under threats from
global warming and depletion of food sources by overfishing.
