Meet the penguin with a heart-shaped breast

Meet the penguin with a heart-shaped breast

While most of us might wear our hearts on our sleeve, this little chap shows it off in just the right place.

He is an Emperor penguin chick whose change of plumage into adulthood was brrrrrilliantly blessed by Mother Nature.

The white heart-shaped patch on his chest is a natural formation due to the moulting of his feathers.

The baby penguin is blissfully aware that not only is he the focus of a heart-warming image, but that he is also literally one in a million too.

Award-winning photographer and wildlife film-maker Sue Flood said that in the 20 years she has been taking pictures in the Arctic and Antarctic, and on more than 30 trips to the frozen plains, she had never picked up such a penguin phenomenon.


She said: 'It's the only one I have ever come across with a bib of this shape.

'I took the picture at a time when Emperor penguin chicks are gaining their adult plumage and are a mix of grey baby down and "penguin suit" colours.

'This one is one in a million and in all my time as a photographer he's the only one I have seen with a bib of this shape - when I saw it, I just couldn't believe it'.

The Emperor penguin is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species.

Its diet consists primarily of fish but can also include crustaceans, such as krill, and squid.

While hunting, it can remain submerged for up to 18 minutes, diving to a depth of 535m and is able to reduce its metabolism and shut down non-essential organ functions in order to do this.

The Emperor penguin is perhaps best known for the sequence of journeys adults make each year in order to mate and to feed their offspring.

The only penguin species that breeds during the Antarctic winter, it treks as many as 120 km over the ice to breeding colonies which may include thousands of individuals.

The female lays a single egg, which is incubated by the male while the female returns to the sea to feed.

Mrs Flood, who has worked on some of the BBC's most successful natural history programmes including Blue Planet and Natural World, has won a clutch of awards for her photography.

Some of her amazing pictures have now been drawn together for her first book, Cold Places, which is published later this month.

It coincides with an exhibition - Cold Places: From Pole To Pole - of 50 of her photographs at London's prestigious Getty Images Gallery.

She said: 'There are times when I question why I'm so drawn to the Poles - for instance, when camping in -40 degree temperatures, enduring the hardships of macho ice-breaker life or when my eyes won't open because my eyelashes have frozen together.

'But there is something magical about the light, the isolation and the stillness, and something inspirational about how resolute animals and people have to be to survive there.

'Yes, the Poles are cold places but they also warm the heart, as I hope my book and images show.'







Source: Dailymail

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Gillies Slapped with NHL ban

Gillies Slapped with NHL ban

The NHL came down hard late Saturday night on two Islanders deemed to be instigators in Friday's fight-filled 9-3 pummeling of the Penguins.

Trevor Gillies earned a nine-game suspension for an elbow to Eric Tangradi's head during a third-period melee, and Matt Martin was slapped with a four-game ban for ambushing Pittsburgh's Max Talbot from behind in the neutral zone to ignite the first scrum in the second period.

Gillies continued punching Tangradi after drilling him with his elbow, and then he appeared to taunt the Pens rookie as Tangradi, whom the Pens claim suffered a concussion, lay prone on the ice. Martin also was suspended two games in December for charging Phoenix forward Vernon Fiddler.

"The actions by Gillies and Martin were deliberate attempts to injure by delivering blows to the head of players who were unsuspecting and unable to defend themselves," said NHL VP Colin Campbell. "The message should be clear to all players: targeting the head of an opponent by whatever means will be dealt with by suspension."

The Islanders also were fined $100,000 because they "must bear some responsibility for their failure to control their players," Campbell added.

Martin, Gillies and Zenon Konopka - but not Bridgeport brawler Micheal Haley - took part in face-to-face hearings with Campbell and his Toronto-based crew after the Isles arrived in Buffalo late in the afternoon. GM Garth Snow also made the trip and sat in on the hearings, along with interim coach Jack Capuano.

A source confirmed that Haley wasn't required to meet personally with league officials. The Isles believed that three fighting majors, an instigator penalty and a double-game misconduct might be counted as "time-served" discipline against the instant Coliseum cult hero.

Haley, who netted his first NHL goal during the rout, had been up earlier Friday from AHL Bridgeport, where he is the team leader this season in both goals and penalty minutes. During the fracas ignited by Gillies, Haley fought both Talbot and goalie Brent Johnson at different ends of the ice.

Pittsburgh's Eric Godard also received an automatic 10-game suspension for leaving the Pens' bench when Haley skated the length of the ice to fight Johnson.

Pittsburgh's backup goalie gave up seven of the Isles' nine goals nine days after knocking out Rick DiPietro with one punch in the previous meeting between the two teams. In the Feb. 2 game, Talbot had incensed the Islanders over a blind-side hit on Blake Comeau, who remains out indefinitely with a concussion.

Konopka, who received only a roughing penalty and a 10-minute misconduct late in the game, joined Martin and Gillies at the hearings. The NHL reportedly reviewed tape to determine whether Konopka left the Isles' bench on a legal line change to start an altercation.

There were 346 combined penalty minutes assessed in the game - including 183 for the Islanders - with both figures setting franchise records.
Read More: Nydailynews

More about → Gillies Slapped with NHL ban

Gillies Slapped with NHL ban

Gillies Slapped with NHL ban

The NHL came down hard late Saturday night on two Islanders deemed to be instigators in Friday's fight-filled 9-3 pummeling of the Penguins.

Trevor Gillies earned a nine-game suspension for an elbow to Eric Tangradi's head during a third-period melee, and Matt Martin was slapped with a four-game ban for ambushing Pittsburgh's Max Talbot from behind in the neutral zone to ignite the first scrum in the second period.

Gillies continued punching Tangradi after drilling him with his elbow, and then he appeared to taunt the Pens rookie as Tangradi, whom the Pens claim suffered a concussion, lay prone on the ice. Martin also was suspended two games in December for charging Phoenix forward Vernon Fiddler.

"The actions by Gillies and Martin were deliberate attempts to injure by delivering blows to the head of players who were unsuspecting and unable to defend themselves," said NHL VP Colin Campbell. "The message should be clear to all players: targeting the head of an opponent by whatever means will be dealt with by suspension."

The Islanders also were fined $100,000 because they "must bear some responsibility for their failure to control their players," Campbell added.

Martin, Gillies and Zenon Konopka - but not Bridgeport brawler Micheal Haley - took part in face-to-face hearings with Campbell and his Toronto-based crew after the Isles arrived in Buffalo late in the afternoon. GM Garth Snow also made the trip and sat in on the hearings, along with interim coach Jack Capuano.

A source confirmed that Haley wasn't required to meet personally with league officials. The Isles believed that three fighting majors, an instigator penalty and a double-game misconduct might be counted as "time-served" discipline against the instant Coliseum cult hero.

Haley, who netted his first NHL goal during the rout, had been up earlier Friday from AHL Bridgeport, where he is the team leader this season in both goals and penalty minutes. During the fracas ignited by Gillies, Haley fought both Talbot and goalie Brent Johnson at different ends of the ice.

Pittsburgh's Eric Godard also received an automatic 10-game suspension for leaving the Pens' bench when Haley skated the length of the ice to fight Johnson.

Pittsburgh's backup goalie gave up seven of the Isles' nine goals nine days after knocking out Rick DiPietro with one punch in the previous meeting between the two teams. In the Feb. 2 game, Talbot had incensed the Islanders over a blind-side hit on Blake Comeau, who remains out indefinitely with a concussion.

Konopka, who received only a roughing penalty and a 10-minute misconduct late in the game, joined Martin and Gillies at the hearings. The NHL reportedly reviewed tape to determine whether Konopka left the Isles' bench on a legal line change to start an altercation.

There were 346 combined penalty minutes assessed in the game - including 183 for the Islanders - with both figures setting franchise records.
Read More: Nydailynews

More about → Gillies Slapped with NHL ban