I have to write about penguins.

I can't stop thinking about them.

Did you know that when the mother penguin lays an egg, she has to transfer it to the father without letting it touch the ice? If it touches the ice for even a second, the baby inside freezes and dies.

Have you ever seen a penguin? They have long bodies with really fat bellies (to hold all the fish that must sustain them through the winter) and no usable limbs. So, the mother penguin lays this egg directly on her claw like feet where it sits protected under her belly from the cold.

Now, since the mother has not eaten in a while, because she is unable to go to the ocean and feed while carrying her egg, she has to give the egg to the father and leave for a couple of months of feeding. What?!?

The mother and father must then enter into this little dance to transfer the egg from her feet to his, which sort of reminds me of the kind of dancing we did in high school where you stand toe to toe, with really loud music blasting and move your bodies to the music without actually touching each other.

Anyway, if they are successful the father is left to shuffle around for months, balancing this precious egg, while mom goes off with the rest of the female's to eat. Even after this extremely precarious move, many things can happen to the egg. Like oops, one foot is raised off the ice just a little and off slides the egg, or yikes, don't bump in to me other stupid penguin, look what you made me do! What's interesting is the father's reaction. They just sort of stand there staring down at the destroyed life. It's as if you can feel their shame.

I've talked about penguins to anyone that would listen - ad nauseam if you ask the right people - all because I watched the movie "March of the Penguin" The cinematography, the music, the narrator (Morgan Freeman) all left me captivated by these delightful creatures!

Check out this link: http://www.gdargaud.net/Antarctica/Penguins.html

Oh, and how can you tell a male penguin from a female penguin? Well...you can't, unless it's mating season, and then you just look for the footprints on the females back. Really, that's what the expert said...