Daniel and I have been recording and watching Planet Earth Extremes on the Discovery Channel. The mini-series is made up of a compilation of the best footage from the series Planet Earth. It is also some of the most impressive wild-life and nature footage ever captured by man.
It shows a full spectrum of creatures and organisms that, through years of adaptation, have been able to survive in extreme conditions. One of the more well known of these creatures (made famous in March of the Penguins) are Emperor Penguins. These adorable birds stand about 4-feet tall, weigh between 45-99 pounds and according to Wikipedia, walk between 31-75 miles to the same breeding ground every year. Not an easy feat considering their legs are about 4 inches long.
The males stand on their eggs for two months, huddling together for warmth in the middle of the coldest months of the antarctic winters. The formation of penguins constantly changes so that no one penguin is left out in the cold, so to speak, for too long. While the females walk back to the edge of the ice to dive for food, the males keep the eggs safely under a flap of skin near their feet. They withstand temperatures that plummet to 40 degrees below freezing and hundred mile an hour winds, all to ensure the reproduction of their species.
With our current weather conditions, it seemed fitting to write about an animal that endures months of winter by helping each other and working together. Daniel is currently out shoveling with neighbors whom we rarely see. However, I can't say our situation is similar to that of the penguins'. We have central heating and our main concern when braving the elements is where to dispose of our eh hem...doggie waste. Sam and Fro are too short to walk anywhere but the street and so, resorted to pooping right in the middle of street. I'm sure you wanted hear all these riveting details, but crap, whether literal or figurative, is a part of life I suppose. Haha.
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