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Penguins Stuck In Infinite Loop

Posted by Hemos on from the faster-and-faster-they-go dept.

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.""

10 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. It sounds like they're healthy. by anon+mouse-cow-aard · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What's the big deal?

    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.

    1. Re:It sounds like they're healthy. by thagale · · Score: 3, Informative

      Except in the wild, they don't swim all day from dawn to dusk. It depends on the species, but most penguins spend most of the day sitting around on the ice, or meandering about lazily.

      Swimming around in circles all day could be a sign of a problem.

    2. Re:It sounds like they're healthy. by anon+mouse-cow-aard · · Score: 3, Informative
      err, sitting about lazily? I don't think so:


      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 their nesting area to find food while their mates sit in the nests on their eggs. Such a foraging journey can take nearly three weeks, leaving the penguins' newborn chicks at risk of starving before the parent returns. This is particularly worrisome since the number of Magellanic penguin chicks surviving to adulthood has declined in recent years."
      from
      ttp://www.artsci.washington.edu/new sletter/Autumn9 9/Boersma.htm

  2. Word Association by ahknight · · Score: 5, Funny

    I saw the headline and immidiately thought "Linux and Apple?" Sad, I know.

  3. 2.4.42.pre1 by wowbagger · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Alright, who loaded a prepatch kernel on the penguins?!"

    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??

    --
    www.eFax.com are spammers
    1. Re:2.4.42.pre1 by shadowbearer · · Score: 3, Funny

      RTA. This behavior wasn't shown by them until a new group of penguins was introduced to the pool. It's apparently some kind of "copycat" behavior.

      Although I agree with you about strange primate behavior :-) Some of them even sit and stare at moving images on electronic devices for hours at a time ...

      Heh.

      SB

      --
      It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
  4. Omaha Hennry Doorly Zoo penguin webcam by ubiquitin · · Score: 4, Informative

    Circle swimming happens every so often in the penguin exhibit at the Omaha Zoo. They have a very nice display, which happens to include a penguin webcam. I think for the most part the Omaha penguins are more laid back than their San Francisco inmates. Also, here is a map of the aquarium where the keep the penguins. Enjoy.

    --
    http://tinyurl.com/4ny52
  5. Noticed similar behavior in polar bears... by andrewski · · Score: 5, Interesting

    At the zoo in Portland, the polar bears engaged in a bizarre, ritualistic dance that they repeated endlessly. I watched the smaller bear walk backwards around a cement habitat element (pillar-like) and then walk backwards over behind a log, do a strange gesture, and then do the whole routine forwards. The larger bear would sit on the log and very slowly swipe at the smaller bear, alternating with frenzied tearing at his log.

    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.

  6. I've got the same problem... by Muad'Dave · · Score: 4, 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!

    --
    Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
  7. Did anyone read the date on this story? by nosferatu-man · · Score: 3, Insightful

    January 16, 2003?

    It's a cool story, but about six months late, eh?

    'jfb

    --
    To spur "enterprise Linux," Big Bang, the distributed two-phase commit.