NKO: Krill Oil

Argentina's Punta Tombo Penguin

Of the approximately 15 species of penguins worldwide, five are common in South America, including that of Gentoo, Rockhopper, King, Macaroni and Magellan, the last of which constitute the largest group and can be seen in the Punta Tombo penguin colony on the east coast of Argentina.

Access through Trewel requires an Argentine domestic flight or cruise ships stop in Puerto Madryn, followed by a two and a half hours by car, car rental or tours, to the royal colony.

During a trip in early 2007, I made this very tour of the sea-and-earth. My bus, one of the five making the journey, left the pier and crossed the bridge on National Route 3, the main highway connecting Buenos Aires to Ushuaia in the north to the south. Chubut Crossing, a of the provinces of Patagonia, went flat, dry and brush covering topography of the coast feature a steppe, whose low, dome-shaped plants have adapted to dry conditions, extreme temperatures and constant winds created by the Andes which inhibit the annual rainfall of between six and 12 inches. Passing Trewel, a town settled by Welsh traditional afternoon tea is still served and the second in the area with its own regional airport, the coach threaded his way through the Lowland White Hills, which appeared as the Badlands of South Dakota, and intercepted the dry, dusty, gravel Provincial Route 1. American Indian South wildlife, almost camouflaged by the undergrowth, including the camera and the guanaco, the South American equivalent of the camel.

Ultimately entering the door of a private sheep farm, covered the last 39 miles to the colony itself in the Atlantic, where the hills rose from the extensions predominantly flat, completing its drive of 170 kilometers from Puerto Madryn.

A walk a mile for a gravel road leading to the penguin colony.

Evolution has created a penguin body design so precisely coincide with the double parameter, lifestyle diametrically opposed feed at sea, however, breeding ground, that no human engineer has ever emulated. These seabirds diverse, with hydrodynamic bodies, with legs and elegant extended, not unlike the camber of the wing of an airplane, to minimize resistance during both dives in the area and nothing widespread. His two short legs provide the ability to walk on land, however, reduce the drag on the ocean, to induce the tour, as well as rudders. Their fins, as well as airplane wings modified to propulsion under the water surface and, together with its compact "fusiform" body shapes, allow rapid speed. Immersion for one minute For example, it takes them 12 meters deep. Contrastive, dense bones that may remain submerged, otherwise it would float, there, to the surface.

Feeding on small schooling fish, crustaceans, and Antarctic krill, which are thousands of millions in the waters of the South Pole, which may point to the dam with sharp beak and retain not surprised with his tongue and palette ranging "Thorns", which ensure that food intake can not reverse its direction and escape back into the water.

Living in the southern hemisphere, particularly in Argentina, Chile, the Falkland Islands and Antarctica, the penguins are able to survive at low temperatures, icy weather conditions through its hot, dense, interlocking waterproof feathers, and under the skin, insulating layers of fat, all of which serve to create excessive heat, for anything beyond widespread. To counter this condition, out of the water using a process called thermo-regulation, " or "heat-dumping" at which time excessive amounts of blood channel fins that "flush" as human beings, temporarily changing colors.

Punta Tombo, 175,000 pairs, is the world's largest penguin colony breading. In early September, from 10 to 15, men become to the area, renovating their nests from the previous year, after which the females arrive and join them, provided that the last mating was a success. During the second half of the month, cut and two large eggs are then released in October, producing the first babies after an incubation period of 40 days. Since Chicks are born with an initial fine plumage, gray to allow easy transfer of heat from the parents, are unable to move far away so until the new year, which requires that parents take turns venturing out to sea for food. They take the same exact way every day.

Between January and February, when early plumage have moved out, the baby penguins begin to learn to hunt to eat and drink anything as your first test the water with a webbed foot at a time, like children human.

The cycle is now reversed: instead of a two to four weeks, parents feeding in the ocean, consuming well above your normal diet, in order to prepare them for the molting period March to April, during which time they lose their old feathers and regeneration of new ones. Because this outer is not water resistant, can not do this again, and must in their rapid reserves until the process is complete.

At the end of the breeding season, penguins migrate from the coast of Patagonia and the Falkland Islands off Brazil for the period of five months from April to September.

Many penguins had been seen during my walk a mile, but his skin gray, like a rock and semi-hidden location, built in burrows below ground plants under the dome, had initially made them undetectable. Crossing a wooden footbridge, under which a multitude of raised into the hot sun, and after a winding, road ground up, almost kicked two gray boulders, initially perceived either side. Both, it turned out, had been the Penguins, who have no innate fear human.

The lava rock outcropping at the end of the trail overlooking the beach and the Atlantic Ocean had emerged from the volcanic activity 120 million years.

The gray pebble beach, full of thousands of penguins, led directly to the ocean in a very narrow angle, the true "threshold" for their livelihood. It was from this water that got the food to feed their young and restart the cycle of life each year.

Filled with observations, thoughts and emotions, I turned around and retraced my way back to the bus, leaving "his" world of "mine."

About the Author

A graduate of Long Island University-C.W. Post Campus with a summa-cum-laude BA Degree in Comparative Languages and Journalism, I have subsequently earned the Continuing Community Education Teaching Certificate from the Nassau Association for Continuing Community Education (NACCE) at Molloy College, the Travel Career Development Certificate from the Institute of Certified Travel Agents (ICTA) at LIU, and the AAS Degree in Aerospace Technology at the State University of New York – College of Technology at Farmingdale. Having amassed almost three decades in the airline industry, I managed the New York-JFK and Washington-Dulles stations at Austrian Airlines, created the North American Station Training Program, served as an Aviation Advisor to Farmingdale State University of New York, and devised and taught the Airline Management Certificate Program at the Long Island Educational Opportunity Center. A freelance author, I have written some 70 books of the short story, novel, nonfiction, essay, poetry, article, log, curriculum, training manual, and textbook genre in English, German, and Spanish, having principally focused on aviation and travel, and I have been published in book, magazine, newsletter, and electronic Web site form. I am a writer for Cole Palen’s Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in New York. I have made some 350 lifetime trips by air, sea, rail, and road.

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