Amazing animal babies giant baby born size of a first-grader! Dad gives birth on ice! Stork brings bundle to two-million-year-old! Plus: shell shocker exposed

Science World, Feb 25, 2002 by Mona Chiang

Did You Know?

* At 7 weeks old, growing emperor penguin chicks require more nourishment than before. While both parents search for food, chicks congregate in a creche (day care-like environment), protected by a few adults. Parents identify their young by sound.

* Emperor penguins are excellent divers and can plunge deeper than any avian (bird) species. They mostly forage for food at between 150 to 250 meters (492 to 820 feet) deep, lasting 3 to 6 minutes. The deepest dive recorded is 565 m (1,854 ft), the longest dive 22 minutes.

* The Sumatran rhinoceros has two horns. Its favorite activities are sleeping, eating, and playing in mud. Mud cools its body and protects it from insect bites. They're also excellent swimmers.

Directions: Answer the following questions in complete sentences.

1. What's the difference between supermarket eggs and those that hatch into chickens?

2. How does the baby stumpy lizard's large body size affect the mother's body during gestation?

3. How do father emperor penguins endure the incubation process during the harsh Antarctic winter? Incorporate the following vocabulary words into your answer: brood patch and blubber.

4. What are two reasons the Sumatran rhinoceros population is dwindling?

ANSWERS

Answers will vary but should include the following points and definitions.

1. Supermarket eggs don't hatch when incubated. They're not fertilized by a rooster.

2. The pregnant stumpy's body doesn't expand in size to accommodate the developing young; therefore, the offspring's takeover of mom's body cavity exposes her to health risks. Her lungs get increasingly squashed, causing frequency and volume of breath to reduce dramatically. Also impacted: her digestive tract. By the last four weeks of gestation, mom's metabolism drops significantly. Hardly able to move, she can barely eat, let alone forage for food. And she can't escape predators.

3. For nine weeks, the father emperor penguin stands nearly motionless on Antarctic sea ice, rocking gently to prevent frost from caking his feet. He protects the egg containing his offspring by cradling it between his legs. Then he covers it with a thick roll of skin and feathers called brood patch, where the temperature is a warm 36 [degrees] C (96.8 [degrees] F). Without food a penguin dad drops as much as 50 percent of his body weight. He draws energy from blubber (fat) and conserves it through sleep. Emperor dads also huddle with their backs to the wind to share body heat. Very slowly they move in a complex serpentine pattern, giving each member (as many as 5,000) equal time at the warmest parts of the inner circle.

4. The Sumatran rhino in its natural forest habitats of Indonesia and Malaysia lives under constant threat of poachers: Its horns are prized for medicine. It's also difficult for rhinos to breed. In the wild, they're extremely solitary. Usually, a bull seeks out a cow only when he detects a scent signaling she's prepared to mate. But when a female isn't receptive, there can be a lot of aggression between the sexes. Captive birth proves difficult--Cincinnati Zoo's Andalas was the first in 112 years. The calf's mother had previously miscarried five times, all within the first three months of gestation. Scientists believe when animals miscarry at an early stage, it's because of a hormone deficiency. They've also discovered Sumatran rhino cows are induced ovulators--or ovulate only after breeding, rather than on a periodic cycle.