Penguins Stuck In Infinite Loop 65
mjd writes "All dressed up and nowhere to swim! ABC News reports that "the penguin pool at the San Francisco Zoo has been a daily frenzy of circle swimming by all of the 52 birds at once. The penguins start swimming in circles early in the day and rarely stop until they stagger out of the pool at dusk.""
Linux Penguins (Score:3, Funny)
-- attributed to Linus Torvalds
Re:Linux Penguins (Score:2)
Tux, of course (Score:3, Funny)
hmmm (Score:2)
Duke
It sounds like they're healthy. (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd rather have them swim from dawn to dusk
as they would in the wild, than sit there and gawk at the tourists. They need the exercise. This is probably the best thing that could happen to them. Mind you, I bet they're costing the zoo a fortune in herring.
Re:It sounds like they're healthy. (Score:3, Informative)
Swimming around in circles all day could be a sign of a problem.
Re:It sounds like they're healthy. (Score:3, Informative)
This isn't the same species, but how about swimming for 18 days at a time, and diving to 500m. That doesn't sound terribly idle. (http://www.penguins.cl/king-penguins.htm)
For this species, they migrate from Tierra Del Fuego to Brazil. That's got to be a decent swim.
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accou nts/sph eniscus/s._magellanicus$narrative.html
Or how about "The satellite data have already revealed that some penguins swim up to 300 miles from thei
Penguins are fairly social (Score:2)
Re:It sounds like they're healthy. (Score:1)
I've never seen the enclosure that they're in but maybe it needs to be refurbished.
If it hasn't changed in years maybe they're bored with their current location and are trying to swim to somewhere new.
Word Association (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Word Association (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Word Association (Score:2)
Re:Word Association (Score:1)
2.4.42.pre1 (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, consider this strange behavior observed in certain primates: They spend hours swimming back and forth in pools of water, lifting heavy weights only to put them down again, until muscular exhaustion, running for hours in place, and pulling clumps of hair from their bodies with resinous substances. Obviously, they must be deranged.
Or health fanatics.
Consider: the penguins would normally spend all day swimming to catch fish. Now, they don't have to - fish are provided with no effort. But some part of the penguin's brain is telling it to swim, so swim they do.
Have you ever watched any other captive animal? Horses will gallop across the field for no visible reason, dogs will run around the back yard, cats will suddenly run full tilt from room to room.
Boredom can make animals do strange things.
Want more proof? [slashdot.org]?
Re:2.4.42.pre1 (Score:1, Funny)
Some humans do this as well... suddenly putting on trainers and running around outside. Bizarre I call it!
Re:2.4.42.pre1 (Score:3, Funny)
Re:2.4.42.pre1 (Score:1)
Re:2.4.42.pre1 (Score:2)
Re:2.4.42.pre1 (Score:4, Funny)
Although I agree with you about strange primate behavior
Heh.
SB
Re:2.4.42.pre1 (Score:2)
Re:2.4.42.pre1 (Score:1)
*phew*
That explains our cats. Maybe I should just let a bunch of rats run around the house so I can get some sleep at night.
Weights? Swimming? (Score:2)
Re:2.4.42.pre1 (Score:2)
Omaha Hennry Doorly Zoo penguin webcam (Score:5, Informative)
Penguin Webcam (Score:2)
Re:Penguin Webcam (Score:3, Funny)
Oh my God! (Score:2, Funny)
Noticed similar behavior in polar bears... (Score:5, Interesting)
I was photographing them, so I noticed the behavior repeating itself, and I asked my girlfriend if she noticed anything strange. She confirmed that the bears were doing a ritualistic sort of routine. At first we kinda laughed, and then as the bears just kept repeating this same pattern over and over, with almost robotic precision, we both began so feel pretty sickened. It seems to me that they have pretty much gone insane.
Re:Noticed similar behavior in polar bears... (Score:1)
Re:Noticed similar behavior in polar bears... (Score:3, Informative)
This is extremely common in lab animals, its called stereotypical or stereotype actions. Mice will spend hours turning backflips or jumping up and down in the same spot. We're talking rep rates of 10's of thousands of times a night.
This is of course a bad thing from an animal rights perspective, its like lifetime solitary confinement in a ultra-max prision. But these animals are very bad test subjects, their bra
Re:Noticed similar behavior in polar bears... (Score:2, Interesting)
IMHO, the Minnesota Zoo is better than most I have been to. Big animals have many acres to roam in, the siberian tiger encloure is enormous. Most days you don't even see 'em. In the summer hoewver, they sit by the huge Plexiglass window and watch the children bathe in the fountain.
The Henry Doorly Zoo (Omaha
Linux is so fast... (Score:2, Funny)
For a minute there... (Score:3, Funny)
I've got the same problem... (Score:5, Funny)
I wake up in the morning, drag myself to work, go home exhausted, and do it all over again, day after day. I don't even get free fish!
Re:Does anyone realize... (Score:2)
"Multiple penguin stories in one day: "A few penguins swimming leisurely at the San Francisco Zoo is nothing new. But dozens of them doing laps in unison for hours has zookeepers perplexed. "We've lost complete control," said Jane Tollini, the zoos penguin keeper. "It's a free-for-all in here. After 18 years of doing this job, these birds are making mincemeat of me." The six penguins from Ohio started it all, Tollin
New problem? Old problem? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:New problem? Old problem? (Score:1)
Re:New problem? Old problem? (Score:1)
Did anyone read the date on this story? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's a cool story, but about six months late, eh?
'jfb
Re:Did anyone read the date on this story? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Did anyone read the date on this story? (Score:2, Informative)
But it was amusing while it lasted...
a protest? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:a protest? (Score:2)
hhgttg (Score:3, Funny)
It's just the penguins way of saying "So long and thanks for all the fish."
oh crap.
-metric
PENGUIN TOYS (Score:1)
Maybe penguins do believe (Score:1)
Ummm (Score:1)
Shameless plug... (Score:2)
Not anymore they don't (Score:3, Informative)
This all started when some new pengies were added to the exhibit. They started on their little migration and the rest just followed them.
I think they are done now. We'll have to wait till next year and see what happens then.
workout nuts (Score:2)
Great! Six workout nuts convinced the nerd penguins to get in shape. Next thing you know, they'll all start dating. This means the next release will be months late.
So tell us! (Score:1)
Dolemite
__________________________
This isn't funny at all (Score:1)
http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/media/pressreleases/02_0
Bogo mips redfined? (Score:1)
Alternative Power (Score:1)