Can Penguins Live in the Arctic?

§4§l -·=»+«=·-§0 §0 §0 §0§lCan Penguins Live§0 §0§l in the Arctic?§0 §0 §0 §0§l -=-§0 §0 §0 §0 by§0 §0 §0 §0§l Hadrian Jeffs§0 §0 §0 §4§l -·=»+«=·-

§1§l ▪=≡≥Φ≤≡=▪§0 §0 §0 part of§0 §3§lThe Science Series§0 §0 §1§l    ▪≡▪§0 §0 §0 Found at the§0 §0 Science Shop§0 §0 §0 The Commonwealth§0 §0 §1§l ▪=≡≥Φ≤≡=▪

While, as far as I know, no one has ever been stupid enough to introduce polar bears into the Antarctic, there have been at least two practical attempts to transplant penguins to the Arctic.§0 §0 The original 'penguin' was in fact

the late great auk §0 §0(§0§opinguinus impennis§0),§0 §0once found in vast numbers around northern shores of the Atlantic. Although no relation to southern hemisphere penguins, it was very similar in appearance, and filled much the same ecological niche

as penguins, particularly the king penguins of the subantarctic region.§0 §0 With any attempt to introduce an alien species, there must actually exist an approximate ecological niche for it to fill, and it must be vacant. For the most

part, the ecological niches occupied by penguins in the south are filled by the auk family to the north. But the demise of the great auk in the mid-19th century at the hands of hungry whalers created not only a vacancy that one of the larger

penguins might neatly slot into, but also a potential economic demand for the penguin's fatty meat and protein-rich eggs.§0 §0 It was perhaps the possible economic opportunities that prompted two seperate bids to introduce penguins into Norwegian

waters in the late 1930s. the first, by Carl Schoyen of the Norwegian Nature Protection Society, released groups of nine king penguins at Røst, Lofoten, Gjesvaer and Finnmark in October 1936. Two years later the National Federation

for the Protection of Nature, in an equally bizarre operation, released several macaroni and jackass penguins in the same areas, even though these smaller birds would clearly find themselves competing directly with auks or other native

seabirds.§0 §0 The outcome was unhappy for the experimenters and, most particularly, for the penguins. Among those whose fate is known, one king was quickly despatched by a local woman who thought it was some kind of demon, while a

macaroni died on a fishing line in 1944, although from its condition it had apparently thrived during its six years in alien waters.§0 §0 And soom it became obvious that the real reason why any attempt to fill the ecological gap left by the great auk was

destined to fail was the very reason the niche was vacant in the first place - such large seabirds could not happily coexist with a large and predatory human population. Of course, it is the steadily increasing human presence in the far

south that is now threatening penguins in their native habitat.§0 §0

§4§l -·=»+«=·-§0 §0 §0 A letter from§0 §0 §0§l The Real World§0 §0 §0§l -=-§0 §0 Originally published§0 §0 in§0 §0 Why Don't Penguins'§0 §0 Feet Freeze?§0 §0 §0 §4§l -·=»+«=·-

§4§l -·=»+«=·-§0 §0 §0§l Transcribed§0 §0§l by§0 §0 §4§l Maester Lodish§0 §0 §0§l -=-§0 §0 §0 1st of July§0 §0 2018§0 §0 §4§l -·=»+«=·-