Frazz by Jef Mallett for September 30, 2022

In fact penguins DO swim using their wings as they are used for flying. So, imo, technically, they ARE flying under water.

That’s odd. Before ‘penguins’ flew in the water, they flew in the air. They evolved from birds.

Remember you’re only seeing the ones that got it RIGHT!

For once Caulfield is waving his arms in a way that makes sense.

Don’t we all…

Air is a fluid, so maneuvering between top and bottom in flight as in water is a similar problem of lift, thrust, mass, and buoyancy. I love SCUBA as much as flying :-)

Flippers. That’s the difference. Besides stubby wings. Besides there’s nowhere to fly to above the ice sheet. Dinner under the ice sheet. Oh sheet, it’s cold!

Who wants to be eaten by a leopard seal?

Sorry Caulfield, this is the way penguins were DESIGNED and CREATED.

That is why I love scuba diving ….

I love Bloom County and Opus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VF8NeIZicM

Photographer Paul Nicklen had a strange Antarctic trip.

A leopard seal had rammed his boat and almost made it tip.

His captain then encouraged him to join her in the sea:

He wouldn’t get a better chance at crisp photography.

The seal, about four meters, put his camera in her jaws.

She made a frightful noise at him until she reached a pause.

She gazed with curiosity, and then she swam away,

So Paul assumed the two of them would meet no more that day.

But only minutes later did that leopard seal arrive

To give the stunned photographer a penguin, still alive.

She let it go; it tried to flee; she snatched it up again.

Paul estimates the number of these gift attempts at ten.

Of course, he’s not a predator, at least not like a seal.

To kill and eat a penguin raw would not have much appeal.

The seal began to tire the prey and then present it dead.

When Paul still didn’t eat, she dumped the penguin on his head.

The seal exhaled quite sharply, sounding threatening once more.

Paul worried what she’d do to him; he couldn’t reach the shore.

She charged—but not at him; there was another seal behind.

It seems she was protecting Paul, a thought that blew his mind.

He came again the next three days, and every time they’d meet,

The leopard seal would try in vain to get the man to eat.

I guess it ended sadly from a certain point of view,

But Paul has quite a story that he’s glad to share with you.

Air and water. The only difference is the thickness of the fluid.

And it’s Frazz with the practical point of view.

Penguins actually “fly” underwater to get food. They eat fish.

If a flying bird stops moving, it will fall to the land. If a swimming penguin stops moving, will it rise to the top if the water??

The would-be penguin ancestors that did get eaten by leopard seals didn’t leave any descendants. That’s how evolution works.

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle — when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” —Herb Caen

Frazz, you’re not listening.

Um…, what do you mean “invented” the airfoil? Humans saw what birds had, and made fake copies out of wood and cloth, later metal, these days fiberglass or something.

Watching a flock of penguins fly through the water at the Boston Aquarium has always been an uplifting experience.

“We adapted”? Pish.