Christmas Penguin Stolen

The Penguin Post has learned that a family came home Christmas Eve to find someone had swiped their beloved inflatable penguin – right from their doorstep in west suburban Montgomery, Illinois.  Kim Mattern said the “fat little penguin’’ stands about 6-feet-tall and 4-feet-wide and stood outside next to the front door as part of the family’s holiday decorations. She, her husband Joshua and their two kids left their home at in the 0-99 block of Woodcliff Road in Montgomery about 1 p.m. Sunday to attend a family holiday party. When they returned about 8 p.m., the penguin was gone. Her 2-year-old and 6-year-old became “very upset,’’ but Mattern said they were honest with them and told them the penguin had been stolen. Nothing else was taken and they initially purchased the item for about $50. The Kendall County Sheriff’s office reported no similar robberies occurring in the neighborhood, she said. The penguin hasn’t been found. “On Christmas…that’s the part that bothers us the most, that it’s Christmas,’’ said Mattern.  Not even the Grinch would stoop this low.

Have you seen this penguin?

Inflatable Penguins Spark Air / Sea Rescue

The Penguin Post has learned that an air and sea rescue in Scotland was called off after the “casualties” turned out to be two inflatable penguins. Coastguard and lifeboat teams, along with a rescue helicopter, were scrambled after an elderly member of the public thought a light aircraft had ditched into the sea. He thought large objects he saw glinting in the sun were the wreckage of the plane. On reaching the scene, the rescuers discovered what he had seen were two large inflatable penguins. Victor Sutherland, the coxswain of Fraserburgh lifeboat who led the rescue operation, said: “It was very unusual. I’ve never had to deal with anything like this before. “We were called in after a man dialed 999 (the U.K. equivalent to 911)  to say he was sure a plane had crash-landed in the sea. “But when we got there all we found were the two penguins. They were pretty large and could easily be seen from the shore. It was a false alarm but with good intentions.” The alarm was raised on Tuesday afternoon when the member of the public spotted a mirco-light aircraft flying off the coast in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire. A few minutes later, it vanished from view. The man could find no trace of it and decided to call for help when he saw what he thought was debris. After contacting the coastguard, the RNLI lifeboat team was dispatched along with a Sea King helicopter from RAF Lossiemouth. Local fishing boats also went to the area. The rescuers swept the sea for more than an hour. But the search was called off after the penguins, which were about four feet high and semi-inflated, were found. Mr Sutherland, who has been with the lifeboat team for 14 years, said: “There was no debris and no sign of any aircraft coming down. The coastguard spoke to all the local aviation people and no-one was overdue. There was no reason to keep searching.” The two penguins have been “adopted” by the lifeboat team and given a home at their station. Despite the false alarm, Mr Sutherland does not want anyone to be put off from calling in the coastguard. “It would have been a costly exercise, but the man did the right thing,” he said. “The aircraft disappeared and as far as he was concerned didn’t come up again. “Anything could have happened out there so it’s better to be safe than sorry. Anyone in the same situation should do the same and dial 999 and ask for the coastguard.” The elderly man, who did not want to be named, was with family members when he raised the alarm. He declined to comment, but his cousin, Jean Downie, 71, said: “My cousin is very embarrassed about the whole thing. So I went to the lifeboat station to say sorry to them all for their trouble, and check in on the penguins.” An air and sea rescue was called off after the “casualties” turned out to be two inflatable penguins. Coastguard and lifeboat teams, along with a rescue helicopter, were scrambled after an elderly member of the public thought a light aircraft had ditched into the sea. He thought large objects he saw glinting in the sun were the wreckage of the plane. On reaching the scene, the rescuers discovered what he had seen were two balloons shaped like penguins. Victor Sutherland, the coxswain of Fraserburgh lifeboat who led the rescue operation, said: “It was very unusual. I’ve never had to deal with anything like this before. “We were called in after a man dialed 999 (the U.K. equivalent to 911) to say he was sure a plane had crash-landed in the sea. “But when we got there all we found were the two penguins. They were pretty large and could easily be seen from the shore. It was a false alarm but with good intentions.” The alarm was raised on Tuesday afternoon when the member of the public spotted a microlight aircraft flying off the coast in Fraserburgh.  A few minutes later, it vanished from view. The man could find no trace of it and decided to call for help when he saw what he thought was debris. After contacting the coastguard, the RNLI lifeboat team was dispatched along with a Sea King helicopter from RAF Lossiemouth. Local fishing boats also went to the area. The rescuers swept the sea for more than an hour. But the search was called off after the penguins, which were about four feet high and semi-inflated, were found. Mr Sutherland, who has been with the lifeboat team for 14 years, said: “There was no debris and no sign of anyone coming down. The coastguard spoke to all the local aviation people and no-one was overdue. There was no reason to keep searching.” The two penguins have been “adopted” by the lifeboat team and given a home at their station. Despite the false alarm, Mr Sutherland does not want anyone to be put off from calling in the coastguard. “It would have been a costly exercise, but the man did the right thing,” he said. “The aircraft disappeared and as far as he was concerned didn’t come up again. “Anything could have happened out there so it’s better to be safe than sorry. Anyone in the same situation should do the same and dial 999 and ask for the coastguard.” The elderly man, who did not want to be named, was with family members when he raised the alarm.He declined to comment, but his cousin, Jean Downie, 71, said: “My cousin is very embarrassed about the whole thing. So I went to the lifeboat station to say sorry to them all for their trouble, and check on the penguins.”

Penguin Rescue Copter

Giant Penguin Fossil Found

Just when we thought our giant 42″ tall inflatable penguin was big, scientists have come across the fossil remains of a five foot tall penguin. The first thing the graduate student saw was a set of foot bones at the surface of an excavation site in Peru. He turned over a rock and noticed a pattern of scales. This hinted that the large fossil might still have soft tissue intact — a rarity. The team of paleontologists nicknamed the specimen “Pedro” and took it to the lab for further examination. It turned out to be the remains of a 5-foot, 120-pound penguin — one of the largest ancient penguins ever found, according to an online report this week in the journal Science. Inkayaku paracasensis, as University of Texas paleontologist Julia Clarke and her team officially named the species, lived about 36 million years ago. One of the oldest ancient penguins found in Peru, it would have been about a third taller and twice as heavy as the emperor penguin, the largest penguin living today.  Pedro is the most complete ancient penguin fossil yet reported — and he still has some of his feathers. “This is an extraordinary fossil find,” said Paul Scofield, curator of vertebrate zoology at the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, New Zealand. Scofield studies ancient penguins but was not involved in Pedro’s discovery. Among other surprises, it appears that Inkayaku didn’t wear the classic penguin “tuxedo.” Pedro’s “suit” may have been reddish-brown and gray, the team reported. They figured that out using a cutting-edge color-mapping technique that examined the shape of melanosomes — the pigment-containing organelles inside cells — in the fossilized feathers. Then they compared them to a database of melanosomes from living penguins and other bird species. While the shape and pattern of Pedro’s flipper feathers resembled those of modern penguins, the melanosomes were quite different. Pedro’s melanosomes looked more like the organelles that contain gray and reddish-brown pigment in other kinds of birds, according to the report. Those of modern penguins are larger, and they cluster into grape-like formations that could alter the feathers’ microstructure. Clark said that the large melanosomes of the modern penguins might produce stronger feathers well-suited for swimming. Penguin evolution “is more complicated than we imagined,” said Scofield, who is still looking for the “missing link” that led to the modern birds. “There’s huge diversity.”

This Giant Penguin Is The Inflatable Kind