Penguins fly and albatross don't really.

In their southern world, dominated by wind and ice and water, penguins fly in the water while albatross rarely power their flight; they glide.

I learned this and more a quarter century ago when I visited their cold ocean and continent of ice and prepared a short series of lectures to the Yale alumni cruising to the Antarctic in December of 1990. The lectures were the dues I paid to join the trip.

Since then, I have updated my notes on that wondrous part of the world as I have become aware of new studies of these birds and their changing environment.

Antarctica wasn't always cold and remote from the rest of the world. It was part of the great southern continent block, Gondwana, binding what would become Australia, South America, Africa, and India together.

Read the full blog by Steve Zack on the Huffington Post >>