Ride-A-Lot dietary habits URL



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LIBERATOR

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Ride-A-Lot is the big fat penguin breed..

http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/Penguins/diet.html

.. Food preferences and resources

1 . Penguins eat krill (a shrimplike crustacean in the family
Euphausiidae), squids, and fishes. Various species of penguins have
slightly different food preferences, which reduces competition among
species.

2. The smaller penguin species of the Antarctic and the subantarctic
primarily feed on krill and squids. Species found farther north tend to
eat fishes (del Hoyo, et al., 1992).

3. Adélies feed primarily on small krill, while chinstraps forage for
large krill (del Hoyo, et al., 1992).

4. Emperors and kings primarily eat fishes and squids (Kooyman, 1971).

Krill comprises a substantial portion of the diets of Antarctic and
subantarctic penguin species.

B. Food intake

1 . Intake varies with the quantity and variety of food available from
different areas at different times of the year (del Hoyo, et al.,
1992).

2. A colony of 5 million Adélies may eat nearly 8 million kg (17.6
million lb.) of krill and small fishes daily (Sparks and Soper, 1987).

C. Method of collecting and eating food

1 . Penguins feed at sea. Most feeding occurs within 15.3 to 18.3 m
(50-60 ft.) of the surface. The location of prey can vary seasonally
and even daily (del Hoyo, et al., 1992).

2. Penguins primarily rely on their vision while hunting (Marchant,
1990). It is not known how penguins locate prey in the darkness, at
night, or at great depths, but some scientists hypothesize that
penguins are helped by the fact that many oceanic squids, crustaceans,
and fishes are bioluminescent (they produce light) (del Hoyo, et al.,
1992).

3. Penguins catch prey with their bills and swallow it whole while
swimming (del Hoyo, et al., 1992). Penguins have a spiny tongue and
powerful jaws to grip slippery prey (Sparks and Soper, 1987; Brooke and
Birkhead, 1991).

4. Different species travel various distances from the colony in search
of food.

a. Hunting areas may range from 15 km (9 mi.) from the colony for
Adélies to nearly 900 km (559 mi.) from the colony for king penguins
(del Hoyo, et al., 1992). Emperor penguins may cover 164 to 1,454 km
(102-903 mi.) in a single foraging trip (Ancel, et al., 1992).

b. Penguins walk and toboggan from feeding grounds to rookeries.
When fishing grounds are far, penguins will feed in seal holes and
other openings in the ice (Sparks and Soper, 1987; Marchant, 1990).

D. Fasting

1. Penguins go through annual fasting periods. Prior to fasting,
penguins build a fat layer, which provides energy (Groscolas, 1990).

a. Penguins fast for prolonged periods during breeding seasons;
they do not leave nesting areas to feed. Some penguins fast throughout
the entire courtship, nesting, and incubation periods (Groscolas,
1990).

b. Penguins also fast during annual molting periods. The
temporary reduction in insulation and waterproofing caused by the loss
of feathers during a molt prohibits penguins from entering the water to
feed (Sparks and Soper, 1987). Their fat layer provides energy until
the molt is over (del Hoyo, et al., 1992).

c. Chicks fast near the time they are ready to shed juvenile
feathers for adult plumage. Usually by this time, the parents no longer
are feeding the chick. Growth stops during this fasting period, but
resumes once the molt is complete.

2. The length of fasting depends on penguin species, sex, and type of
fasting. The king and emperor penguins have the longest fasting
periods.

a. Breeding male king penguins may fast for up to 54 days during
courtship and the first incubation shift (Davis and Darby, 1990).

b. Breeding male emperor penguins may fast 90 to 120 days during
courtship, breeding, and the entire incubation period (Davis and Darby,
1990).
 
Jim Kool-aid Jones wrote:
> Your ****?


Something isn't right with you.

Your parents did something horrid to you, didn't they?
 
"LIBERATOR" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Jim Kool-aid Jones wrote:
> > Your ****?

>
> Something isn't right with you.


Yeah, no ****.

> Your parents did something horrid to you, didn't they?


They gave birth to me.