Penguin Party: The Korora and the Magellanic

Today's post is devoted to two of the seventeen (debatably a lower number) of the extant penguin species, the Korora (commonly known as the little blue penguin, the blue penguin, the little penguin, or the fairy penguin), and the Magellanic penguin.  What's the connection with these two penguins?  Well, not really anything, except for the fact that we had just talked about the Korora in a post a few weeks ago, and I had found a few funny videos of both the Korora and the Magellanic! 

The Korora is actually believed to be fairly closely related to the Magellanic penguin, compared to most of the rest of the penguins.  Despite the differences in their genus (the Magellanic belongs to the genus "Spheniscus" and the Korora to the genus "Eudyptula,") most scientists believe that the Eudyptula penguins (only one extant, but likely extinct ones) were the last ones to diverge from the Spheniscus genus. 

As we talked about a few weeks back, the Korora is labeled as "Least Concern" by the IUCN, and inhaibts Australia and New Zealand, as well as a few other random islands in the vicinity.  Interestingly enough, the Korora has also been reported in Chile and South Africa, although the probability of these animals being vagrants (essentially, lost) is quite high.  However, most penguinologists are certain that many populations of penguins started out as vagrants, so who knows!  It is how they would get from one place to another. 

The Penguin Parade (see below) is a major tourist attraction.

The penguin parade.  Photo Credit Mark and Julie Neher

HERE is a link to a clip talking a bit about the Penguin Parade.  The clip talks a bit about the work done by the rangers and scientists regarding the Korora, including ranger Ashley Belsar.  For over thirty years, since 1968, this research team has been recording information about the penguins as they come ashore.  An interesting statistic that I learned from this video is that the average penguin spends about 80% of its life in the ocean!

And for those of you who want something a bit more"cutesie," HERE is a video of Cookie, the Korora, being tickled by humans at the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio!

Native to the South American countries of Chile, Argentina, and occasionally Brazil, the Magellanic penguin is one of four of the Spheniscus genus of penguins, including the African, Humboldt and Galápagos penguins.  Labeled as "Near Threatened" by the IUCN, somewhere in the neighborhood of 40,000 of these penguins are killed each year by oil spills, which has resulted in their decreased IUCN status.

Next, we have two amusing Magellanic penguin videos.  The FIRST is of a Magellanic on a plane, and the SECOND is a trio of Magellanics who accidentally knock over the camera that is filming them.  Enjoy!

Now, we have a few really cute pictures of some of the Magellanic penguins from Sea World: Orlando in Florida!  The second two photos are from a publicity thing where some people from Sea World: Orlando brought some Magellanics to the Star newsroom!  How cute!

Phillip Island on Dwellable

The Sounds of Star Wars

The dog that was once owned by George Lucas has gone down in history in more ways than one.  One very famous example stems from the dogs name: Indiana.  This inspired the first name of the swashbuckling adventure hero "Indiana Jones" from the film franchise of the same name.  Another very important legacy of Indiana (the dog) stems more from appearance.  Apparently, the idea for Chewbacca, the lovable Wookiee from the Star Wars franchise, came to Lucas when he saw Indiana sitting up in the passenger seat of Lucas's own car!  In fact, the name "Chewbacca" apparently is derived from the Russian and Ukrainian word "собака," which means dog.

Ben Burtt, the sound editor for all six Star Wars movies, recorded a number of bear sounds for the purpose of creating Chewbacca's speech.  Along with bears, cats such as the lion and the mountain lion were also recorded.  Camels were used in addition to these fiercer companions.  These were by no means the only contributions by the animal world to the sounds of Star Wars, however!  For example, when it came to the patrons in the Mos Eisley Cantina in Episode IV: A New Hope, many different tactics were utilized.  Synthesized Latin and chopped-up Swahili served for two of the customers, but animals were used as well.  One patron's laughter stemmed from a hippopotamus, while anothers came from a spring peeper tree frog.

That's not all when it comes to the Cantina scene, however!  Ponda Baba was the Aqualish alien, below, who, along with his friend Dr. Evazan, picked a fight with Luke Skywalker and Ben Kenobi.  He was "voiced" by a walrus.  Meanwhile, besides "dogs growling and bats squeaking," the "laughter" of hyenas was also used for the laughter of some of the Cantina's other patrons. 


Here are some more sounds, and what kind of animals contributed to their creation:

Geonosians:  Here is what Matthew Wood, the actor who brought the voice of the famous and much-loved General Grievous to life, has to say regarding the sounds made by the Geonosians:

"I recorded the mating calls of penguins as they came back from the Antarctic to little Phillip Island in Melbourne.  Other sounds came from when I was up in the rain forest; I was in a flying fox area, and they let me get close to these two flying foxes.  One of them had a banana, but the other one wanted some of it, so they started fighting.  They were really mad, and I recorded that whole thing.  So, for the Geonosians, Ben [Burtt] combined mating penguins and fruit bats fighting over a banana."

The penguins that he is referring to are the korora, commonly called the little blue penguins, discussed in a recent post.  They would also not have been returning "from the Antarctic," as these birds, the smallest known penguin, past or present, are not cold-weather birds, and really stick pretty close to Australia.

Boga:  One of my absolute favorite characters (yes, I know, technically she is just an animal, but still) was voiced by a combination of one of my favorite REAL animals, the Tasmanian devil, along with a few yelps from dogs and coyotes.

Wampa scream: An elephant bellow, overlied by the squawk of a sea lion.

Mynocks:  The whinny of a horse played backwards at half the normal speed, beginning with the bark of a seal.

Ugnaughts:  The noises made by these pig-like aliens were primarily from the pups of an arctic fox, as well as the mother, but a bit of "raccoons in a bathtub" was mixed in.

Rancor Noises:  The dachshund owned by the neighbors of Ben Burtt, the Syllas, barking, growling, and hissing.

The Sando Aqua Monster:  The deep growls that this massive creature from Episode I: The Phantom Menace makes were actually from the throat of Burtt's then-three month old daughter, named Emma.  "At one point, she had a growl in her voice when she was crying.  I thought, I can use this!  So I recorded that and then lowered the pitch way down in the computer."

 Kaadu:  The snorts of the kaadu were recorded from the sounds a whale made out of its blowhole when surfacing at San Diego's Marine World.

Kaadu/Gamorrean Guard:  Both of these creatures (the grunts of the kaadu, and everything for the Gamorrean Guard) were recorded from pigs.  Unsurprising, at least for the Gamorrean, given his appearance!

Poggle the Lesser - The leader of the geonosians (that is, until Queen Karina the Great is revealed in season two of the Clone Wars) was voiced in a number of different ways, but partially through "Swahili-type vocal clicks."

Acklay:  This creatures noises and shrieks were created from reworked dolphin noises, as well as a few pig sounds.

Octuparra Droids:  The sounds from these massive droids from the Clone Wars were partially created by cows.

Gor:  Pet of the aforementioned General Grievous, Gor was voiced by a mixture of a lion and a vulture.

Gundark:  This creature, first mentioned in the original trilogy ("You look strong enough to pull the ears off a gundark," said Han Solo to Luke Skywalker after his traumatic ordeal at the hands [haha irony (because the wampa gets his hands cut off)] of the wampa) was created from a conglomerate of a horse and a shrieking parrot.

I have to say, I think one of the coolest places to visit would be Skywalker Sound, the place where all of the sound and stuff for the Star Wars movies and tons of other movies are made, organized, edited, and such.  If they gave tours, then I would totally make the trip out there!  To take a tour of Skywalker Ranch would be absolutely fantastic!

Guards of the Fairy Penguin

In the summer of 2009, a number of brutal attacks in Sydney, Australia left nine victims dead.  According to BBC, “the mutilated bodies...were found in a national park near Sydney harbour.”  Autopsies performed on the bodies reveal that the murderers were most likely foxes, although dogs remain a definite suspect.

A picture of the red fox outside of the house in Breckenridge, Colorado, that our friends the Beckleys rented one summer.  It's an awesome place to stay, I tell you what!  Photo Credit: Julie Neher

There is more to this story than has been revealed thus far.  The nine victims were not humans; instead, they were korora, or little blue penguins, also often called fairy penguins. You would be excused for thinking that the victims were, in fact, humans, especially once you learned the whole story.

In an interview with BBC, Sally Barnes of the New South Wales Parks and Wildlife Service detailed what the group has been doing to protect the penguins from the dogs and foxes.  As well as raising public awareness, the NPWS has been baiting and trapping the predators, and “As a last resort, we’ve also had shooters out.” 

In this case, shooters means snipers.  That’s right; the Parks and Wildlife Service deployed two professional sharpshooters in order to ensure the safety of these penguins.  Armed with night-vision goggles, rifles, and orders to shoot to kill, these may be the most extreme methods used to protect penguins ever employed. 

The penguins are being further protected by vigilantes from the Manly Environment Centre, vowing that they will do “whatever it takes” to protect the penguins, and planning on assisting the snipers in keeping a sharp eye on the birds 24/7. 

Why is this colony such a big deal?  The kororaa is labeled as “Least Concern” by the IUCN.  Well that may be true for the total population of korora, but this colony is falling by the wayside.  As you can see in the map, the area where the colony is located is quite busy, and not ideal penguin habitat.  However, these penguins cannot be relocated; like many birds, they always return to where they themselves were raised to come ashore and raise their own chicks.  The people of Sydney also take pride in their colony of korora’s, as it is the sole population located in New South Wales.  The people at the Manly Environment Centre report that their efforts are, by and large, successful, and the korora’s numbers are on the rise.

Sydney on Dwellable