The king penguins colonies of the southern islands of Kerguelen (Travelog 8/16)

<BODY BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT = "#ABCBBE"> <BR> This colony is one of largest in the world : nearly 80 000 individuals! And yes : all this white mass, on the left, are... penguins.<BR> Large view on a "kindergarten" : gathered, the small ones are less exposed to the "skuas", the birds vultures which fly over them permanently.<BR> The ecosystem of the subantarctic islands is unusual : instead of being based on the terrestrial vegetation, most of the resources come from the sea, the organic matter being brought back to ground by the penguins.<BR> But one of the most astonishing characteristics of the penguins is their capacity of voice recognition : an adult can find his chick based on his particular cry, among thousands of others. What appears being to us a total cacophony is not, because each adult or chick emits successively his rallying call ! It is a subject of very serious study for some researchers of the base, insofar as certain techniques of the penguins are useful today in the development of the latest systems of human voice recognitions. </BODY>