Everyone loves penguins, but how much do we really know about them as living beings?

This week, The Wild Life is taking a waddle on the wild side, and our guide on our clumsy, yet hopefully charming journey is the one, the only, the…penguin lady, Dyan deNapoli. Dyan deNapoli is a penguin expert, TED speaker, and author of the award-winning book, The Great Penguin Rescue, which chronicles her experiences helping to manage the rescue of 40,000 penguins from the Treasure oil spill in South Africa—also April’s book club pick (check the episode notes for a link to join!). Dyan is frequent guest on radio, podcasts, and TV in the US and abroad, Dyan has spoken at four TEDx conferences, has created a TED-Ed video for the classroom, and has lectured worldwide about penguins, including as a guest speaker for Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic on their ships traveling to Antarctica. Today, we explore the penguins popularity, their little known plite, and well, their poop as we travel from Antarctica to the equator.

This episode is also dedicated entirely to our dear friend, and long-time supporter, Chris Trankel!

Bonus Fact: Adelie penguins fire their poop away from their nest like a mortar shell, and scientist are using satellites IN SPACE to monitor penguin populations by scanning for, you guessed it, their POOP!

Purchase Dyan’s book, The Great Penguin Rescue and check out her website

BONUS LINKS

And then, read a bit more on the not-so-nice private lives of penguins: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/penguin-prostitutes/559133/