This doesn't quite count as glaciology, but it's near enough.
Hooray for science! The world is safe as long as scientists are beavering away on vastly important matters that have a bearing on the future of mankind and the fate of the planet. This is from a paper published in the journal Polar Biology on the rectal pressures involved in penguin defaecation.
The key finding in the paper is that the rectal pressure needs to be about half an atmosphere for the faecal material to land c 40 cm away from the nest. Not a lot of people know that.
My local plumber, also of a scientific bent, once told a customer, "Your problem is that you've got a 4 inch waste pipe and a 6 inch a**e."
ReplyDeleteSorry Brian, its been a long day. Feel free to ignore.
Barrie
I was about to submit a profound thought, then an 'Error 503' Message flashed up on the screen so I've thought twice about it.
ReplyDeleteIt would probably have basically been a load of hot air anyway.
David Attenborough
David, great to have you on board on our humble blog. Having watched "Frozen Planet", what do you think, as a naturalist, are the chances that frozen pipes, so to speak, may cause the penguin, adult or juvenile, defaecation issues, leading to, not to put too fine a term on it, constipation......or worse?
ReplyDeleteALAN TITCHMARSH