March of the (emperor) penguins: film review

This video is called March of the Penguins, part 1, subtitled in Korean.

From the Google cache of Dear Kitty ModBlog.

1/4/06 at 4:30PM

Mood: Looking Playing: Ice, ice, baby, by Vanilla Ice

Originally, there was a French film, called La marche de l’empereur.

Then, this film on emperor penguins became a big hit in 2005 in United States cinemas, as March of the Penguins.

Now, it is also in cinemas in other countries.

In The Netherlands and Dutch speaking Belgium, with comedian Urbanus as narrator.

Apart from the penguins themselves, the film shows also their environment: the magnificent icebergs, the snowstorm swept mountains and plains …

And their prey: krill crustaceans, and Antarctic fish.

And their predators: leopard seals.

And, especially a danger to chicks: southern giant petrels.

In fact, these are distant relatives of penguins.

As the film notes, long ago the Antarctic continent had a temperate climate, with forests and hundreds of species of animals.

Then, scores of millions of years ago, some flying seabirds adapted to even better flying and became petrels, albatrosses, and their relatives.

While others gave up flying and adapted to swimming in the cold Antarctic ocean, and became penguins.

While I in the Antarctic saw southern giant petrels and Adelie penguins, the second most southern penguin species, the breeding areas of the southernmost, and biggest, penguin, the emperor, were too far to the South.

Penguins walking: here.

Penguins and tourists: here.

King penguins: here.

Penguins of Edinburgh zoo: here.

Krill: here.

Global warming in the Antarctic: here.