Penguin

A penguin is a flightless seabird of the Southern Hemisphere. In some species, including Gentoo and Adélie penguins, the male courts a female by presenting her with a pebble. If she accepts it, the pebble goes towards the nest. If she does not, he goes and finds a better pebble, which is, by most accounts, also how jewellery started.^[1]

Pebble economics

Good pebbles are scarce on many Antarctic beaches, because the nests are built of them and keep the eggs out of meltwater. Penguins therefore steal pebbles from their neighbours' nests whenever the neighbours look away. The neighbours steal them back. Researchers estimate that some pebbles in a large colony change hands many times in a single season, giving them a more active market than most stock exchanges.^[2]

• Smooth pebble: highly valued.
• Round pebble: valued.
• Lumpy pebble: accepted under protest.
• Boulder: not accepted; cannot be lifted.

Flight

Penguins cannot fly in the air. Underwater, however, they use their wings as flippers and “fly” through the sea. Emperor penguins can dive deeper than five hundred metres. Ornithologists maintain that the penguin can fly; it has simply chosen the wrong medium and committed to it.

See also

• Pebble – the currency
• Ice – the neighbourhood
• List of things that are cold – where it would be listed
• Antarctica – where the penguins are, and almost nobody else
• Polar bear – never met one

References

1. Tuxedo, T. (2000). The Pebble Economy. Floe Press.
2. Shingle, S. (2011). “Who Took My Pebble?” Antarctic Notes 3: 14.
3. Flipper, F. (1995). Flying, Technically. Ice Books.