Freeze your tail feathers and benefit the Special Olympics. That's what the folks in Westport, Connecticut do annually to raise money and awareness for the Special Olympics in Connecticut. Every year more than 300 penguin types run, jump and dive into the chilly waters of Long Island Sound. The participants receive prizes and awards (oldest, yougest, most creatively dressed, etc.). The event is supported by local radio statiions and restaurants. To find out more about it, as well as how you can bring this event to your area, contact Special Olympics Connecticut, 2666 State Street, Suite 1, Hamden, CT, 06517 or visit www.soct.org/mf/plungeform.html.

There are too many males in the igloo and the females are taking advantage of it, according to the New York Aquarium. Apparently there are 22 males and 10 females in the New York Aquarium's black-footed penguin exhibit. The females are being courted heavily and therefore trying out other mates. Pretty female penguin Esmerelda had left Old Man and spent a successful breeding season with Curly, whom she has since left and returned back to Old Man. Miss Gomez is still loyal to Giovanni, even though it's rumored she spends her afternoons with other males as they court her. It's a regular penguin soap opera, or love, penguin style.

It doesn't look like a penguin and it doesn't sound like a penguin. The PenguinRadio(TM) is a stand-alone Internet appliance designed to free the music from your PC. The radio connects internet radio directly through to your home stereo receiver. The new device is not on the market yet, and it is going to be a little pricey ($200-$250), but they still need some beta testers. For more info contact http://www.penguinradio.com/penguin.htm

Sometime early this year we may be able to purchase an encyclopedia dedicated exclusively to penguins. Unfortunately for us, it will be in Dutch. Gerard Peet of Holland is working on collecting all the information he can get on penguins for the book. The penguin encyclopedia will include illustrations (including the lady the Adelie was named after) and over 100 entries of penguin film appearances. It will have a plethora of penguin history and penguin facts. Gerard has said the "material is fantastic," and he hopes to have the book translated into English as well. We look forward to it!

Sergei Eisenstein won the much coveted Crystal Penguin Lifetime Achievement Award for making the greatest film shot on ice at the annual Antarctic Film Festival. The Festival founders were a little disappointed with attendance this year and will make sure the dates for the next festival do not conflict with Cannes. It is rumored the festival may change locations next year and that they have rented office space in Santa Monica, California. When contacted at press time, the Board of Directors had no comment. For more information on the festival, contact them at http://www.antarctic-filmfest.com/.

Yes. The Penguin missile is a helicopter launched anti-ship missile that was developed by and for the Norwegian Navy. The original Penguin became operational on Norwegian fast-attack boats in 1972. The missile weighs 847 pounds and reaches a maximum speed of 1.2 mach. For more information, contact Naval Air Systems Command, Public Affairs Department, 47123 Buse Road, Unit IPT, Bldg. 2272, Suite 075, Patuxent River, MD 20670-5440 (301) 757-1487.

With the cool weather approaching, you might want to start considering a trip to see our penguin friends in Antarctica, especially now that the frozen continent has its own travel guide in the "Lonely Planet" series.

As the South Pole is now emerging from it's six months of winter darkness and entering its Sping and Summer seasons, now would be the best time to go. Given its remoteness, inhospitable climate (even in the summer), and cost in lives as well as money, it's surprising how many adventurers have been undeterred in visiting the "white desert". Douglas Mawson the Australian explorer, thrived on hardship. "The Home of the Buzzard", his 1915 book, to be republished this fall by St. Martin's, narrates with terse vigor the tale of his 1,245 mile sled journey, which killed two of his companions. The deprivations endured by earlier visitors to the region are fascinatingly re-created in Alan Gurney's history "Below The Convergence: Voyages Toward Antarctica 1699-1839" (published appropriatly enough, by Penguin).

Writers have trouble finding words when trying to describe the astounding emptiness of the continent, contrasted with the otherworldly whimisicality of the resident penguins and other indiginous wildlife, and to judge from the photographs of vertiginous icescapes in Mike Lucas's "Antarctica" (Abbeville), it's not hard to see why. Those who prefer a little vegetation with their ice would do better to look at "Antarctic Oasis," by Tim and Pauline Carr (Norton), an affectionate portrait of South Georgia Island.

For folks who prefer more penguins and less icebergs, there's Kevin Schafer's new book of stunning penguin photographs and insightful essays titled "Penguin Planet" (Creative Publishing). According to Francis Spufford's "I May Be Some Time: Ice and the English Imagination" (St. Martin's), it's the British who have most consistantly fixated on Antarctica - perhaps exhilerated to find a climate even worse than their own.

Starting with "South" (Lyons Press), Sir Ernest Shackleton's diaries and notes of his ill-fated 1914-1917 Enduannce expedition and his crews subsequent tales of survival and rescue, as well as Shackleford's photographer and film maker Frank Huley's unbelievable collection of lantern slides, Paget plates and newly digitized prints, as well as Hurley's own diary of the epic adventure in The Endurance (Random House), which is also available as a CD-ROM and a silent movie video. Going in an opposite direction, the English novelist Jenny Diski has produced a highly idiosyncratic travelogue in "Skating To Antarctica" (Ecco). During her trip to the region she often neglected the scenery, preferring to stay in her cabin anatomizing her miserable upbringing. Another British woman in this generally male domain is journalist Sara Wheeler, whose "Terra Incognita" (Random House) provides a convincing rationale for the continent's pull on writers: "All places are more than the sum of their physical components, and I saw that Antarctica exists most vividly in the mind."

For those of you interested in penguins teaching us all lessons in workforce diversity, overcoming obstacles and sidestepping stereotypes, then "Pigeonholed in the Land of Penguins" (Amacom) is the book for you. Written by management consultants Warren Schmidt and Barbara Hately, this 160 page book of motivational tales, tips, illustrations and advice for the workerplace, dispenses wit and wisdom in a waddling way. This is a follow-up to their 1995 successful entry to the world of penguinesque parables called "A Peacock in the Land of Penguins" (Berrett Koehler) and it probably won't be their last.

Question: Do penguin species that live together interbreed?

Penguin Pete: Within a particular genus, particularly Spheniscid penguins, there have been reports of interbreeding. For example, it is not unknown for Humboldt and Magellanic penguins to interbreed, both in the wild and in captivity. Generally penguins don't interbreed because their colonies don't overlap much. Even within a local area, penguins will group by species normally.

They may occasionally copulate with other species but their DNA isn't sufficiently similar to allow fertile eggs to be produced from the mating. Even where interbreeding has successfully occurred, the offspring are usually infertile. Indeed, there are problems with some older zoo collections because of doubts about the precise parentage of some birds.

Different genera such as Kings and Gentoos do not even attempt to interbreed. The most likely reason is that birds from within a species use the characteristics of that species, i.e crest, white head, etc, to recognize their mates. A bird with completely different markings would not normally be recognized as a potential mate. Thus, birds from different genera can share colonies with no fear of interbreeding.

There may be some interesting questions to be answered: Do Adelies and Chinstraps ever interbreed where their colonies overlap? We've not heard of reports of this happening, but you never know.

Obviously, since most penguin species are clearly distinct, even where they share breeding sites, any interbreeding which may accidentally occur is absolutely minimal, otherwise the distinction in species would quickly be lost.

Waddling Molars
A special penguin kudos goes to Deborah Jumul of Albuquerque, N.M. who recently had her dentist give her a porcelain crown (on a back molar) with two little penguins painted on it. Giving one another reason to say "now open wide".

Zoo News
Recently in St. Louis, the penguin exhibit was removed to make room for the expansion of the new revamped rivers edge exhibit, much to the dismay of penguin lovers in the St. Louis area. So many people complained about the river city's lack of penguins, that the zoo relented, and are presently building a new, expanded penguin exhibit to open later this year.

Mr. Popper Sings Again
In the world of Penguin entertainment, the Mount Vernon Community Children's Theater recently performed for only the second time in recorded history a musical version of the all time literary classic, Mr. Popper's Penguins. Based on the 1933 book by Richard and Florence Atwater, with original music by Mel Melvin and lyrics by Timothy Mason. The stage version of Mr. Popper's had only been performed once before by a Seattle based childrens theater in 1998. The large cast of 63 performed the musicals east coast premiere this past October at the Mount Vernon Community Theater in Alexandria, VA to rave reviews. Bravo.

By Julie Blevins

The latest model Toyota Corolla was one of the more unusual-looking cars at the 2003 Detroit Auto Show, held this past January. Magellanic penguins graced both sides of the car and the rest of the frame (including windows) was covered with mountains, clouds and blue sky. In keeping with the Antarctic theme, the display behind the car resembled a snow-covered rocky terrain populated by numerous stuffed penguins. I didn't see any product literature or vendor reps, so I couldn't find out why Toyota chose this particular theme. Maybe it was meant as a subtle hint for holding the auto show during a warmer season, or else moving it to a warmer climate!