Who is the sovereign ruler of the penguin empire? The emperor penguin, of course, is the only animal on earth that doesn’t leave Antarctica’s open ice in the dead of winter or any other time for that matter. Known as the elegant bird with the funny walk, there are interesting facts you probably never knew about the emperor penguin. Here’s our take …

1. The emperor penguin is the tallest and heaviest of all known penguins. They reach up to 122 cm in height and weigh anywhere from 22 to 45kg. Heavier than that, they are put on a strict diet.
2. Though it’s considered a bird and has wings – highest feather density of any bird species, it cannot fly. Sneaking up behind one allows it to wish it could fly, however …
3. The emperor penguin is a great traveler. Every year, adults take exhausting journeys to mate and feed their offspring. Kind of like parents of all species, no?
4. Must be a great lover, too. They manage to breed in the coldest environment possible with air temperatures reaching -40 °C. Well, if I lived in that cold a place I’d want to snuggle with someone, too and not be blamed for the consequences.
5. The female emperor lays one single egg and then leaves for the sea to feed.
6. During the incubation period, the male emperors prove to be great babysitters. Their job is to keep the egg warm.
7. The Emperor Penguin chick is typically covered with silver-grey down and has a black head and white mask. They don’t get their tuxedos till a bit later on.
8. To escape wind and conserve warmth, the Emperor Penguins huddle together. Once it has warmed, others will take its place moving to the inside of the group. They learn to share like this in penguin kindergarten.
9. An Emperor Penguin can hold its breath anywhere up to 20 minutes, and dive over 550 meters (1,800 ft).
10. Emperor Penguins rely only on vocal calls for individual recognition between parents, offspring, and mates.
11. Used to the cold, at over 20 °C the emperor penguin becomes agitated and lifts its wings to expose more parts of the body. Well, when I get warm, I want to show my body parts, too…but I refrain.
12. When they’re not tobogganing – sliding over the ice on its belly, the Emperor Penguin walks with a wobbling gait or proves its swimming talents (its average swimming speed is 6–9 km/h). That’s faster than I can run.
13. Emperor penguins feed on fish, squid, krill and crustaceans, except when they violate number one above.
14. They can only be found in the Southern Hemisphere.
15. The emperor penguin’s enemies are the killer whales, leopard seals, and walrus.

And just to make the facts even more interesting, here’s an amazing pictures gallery. It’s an amazing bird, no?

All images copyright to Martha de Jong-Lantink.
Check out her amazing trip to Antarctica from 2007.

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Overpopulation Facts

Population explosion is modern world’s bottleneck towards progress with each and every problem that majority of the planet faces today finding roots in the excess mouths that we need to feed.

Human population might be growing at a geometric rate, but the fact remains that the planet is not going to expand and grow new land to create space and produce resources for more individuals. In such a situation common sense demands that we bring population to a stable figure that stops putting pressure on the supply chain.

Image courtesy of adriansalamandre

Solutions …

But good news is apparently on the way with recent report released by Lester R. Brown, President of Earth Policy Institute claiming that the world population is starting to reach a figure of stability. With the chaos and multitude of overpopulation problems caused in the last half century, it is about time we had some sanity around. But this by no means indicates we are out of troubled waters.

According to the report countries like Japan, Russia, Germany, and Italy will see a decline in population while nations like USA and China will see a stable population that might decline slightly in the later half of the century.

But there is an important third group of nations like Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda, which would end up doubling their population by 2050. While UN projects world population anywhere in-between 9.2 to 10.8 billion by 2050, it would be interesting to see where nations like Brazil and India rank on such a list. Because … 201 million couples across the globe today are still deprived of birth control measures making it impossible to bring order at the present rate.

For the situation to develop, we need to understand that providing family planning options, creating awareness and giving incentives is essential. While things seem just in control as of now, they could quickly and easily spiral out of control if the global community does not act soon. Time for us to wake up to the population facts and its overwhelming impact!

Source: ENN

Sing along with me, “You light up my life.”

I love an electric storm. Of course, I love them when they are “over there” and not “over here.” I can remember standing in a plain in the Midwest of the United States enthralled by the show. A couple of years ago I took some friends to Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park. We sat eating a Japanese bento and watched an electric/lightening storm march across the Valley. Absolutely breathtaking.

So, what do we know about lightening and electric storms?

1. They occur as a result of other storms – thunderstorms, volcanic eruptions, and dust storms.
2. Bolts can travel at 60,000miles/sec (220.000km/h) – imagine the guy with the stop watch trying to measure that!
3. Temperature of bolts can reach 30,000C (54,000F) – That’ll cook your egg in no time, eh?
4. There’s an estimated 16 million electric storms every year.
5. The chances of being struck by lightening in America – 1 in 576K. I live in San Jose, abt 1 million. There’s two people running around who have been hit by lightening. About one in 2.3 million die.
6. Scientists don’t know how lightening forms.
7. There are at least 14 kinds of lightening – Elves, Sprites, Blue Jets, to name a few.
8. You can be confused by the supposed physics behind lightening here or here.
9. Doc did NOT really harness a lightening bolt in Back to the Future.

Or you can just enjoy the show … and in my case, appreciate the lightening Maker.

Check out an amazing gallery of electric storm pictures, after the break. It’s quite stunning!

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Well it’s actually 501 when this one gets published on the front page.

A couple of minutes ago, I just looked “inside” GP and I was pleasantly surprised to see that “You have 500 posts”. That’s our good deed. That’s how we try to be better stewards for our Planet, for the environment we spend our lives in.

It’s been more than half a year, and even though some will say that it’s not an important step, I’m here to congratulate the whole blogging team behind GP. Thanks Bill, thanks Sameer, and thanks to all those who read us (be it directly or via RSS) and to all those that commented on our articles.

GreenPacks wouldn’t have been here if it wasn’t for you, the one in front of the display who’s reading these words.

What will be from now on? We promise to bring you quality articles every day, and all we ask from you is to read them. Together we can do more than we do alone … See you again at 1,000.

Thank you!

Image courtesy of lucias_clay