Wgbh Boston Specials: Penguins - Birds Who Wanted

Description

Ever since birds first appeared on the planet, their remarkable diversification allowed them to conquer the different habitats covering the earth s surface. Their wings gave them the ability to fly and to reach places no other animal could reach. Only the sea had challenged them, until the arrival of penguins. Determined to conquer the oceans, penguins took millions of years of evolution to realize their objective, adapting in ways that had never been seen before among bird populations. They developed the ability to live in water for months at a time, to dive to depths of as much as 300 meters, and to withstand the rigors of the coldest regions in the southern hemisphere. But on their long journey to do so, they paid a very high price. As penguins proved themselves to be masters of environmental adaptation and diversification produced numerous different species, penguins became sufferers-in-silence, deprived of flight, and noisy members of large colonies. No other family of birds has as extraordinary a tale as penguins do the birds who wanted to be fish.