Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Penguin Lifecycle

Penguin Lifecycle

 * Reason:Public domain, high quality, very informative and extremely encyclopedic. I believe this picture is among of the best Wikipedia has to offer.
 * Proposed caption:Emperor Penguins first begin to breed at approximately five years of age. They travel about 90 km (56 mi) inland to reach the breeding site. The penguins start courtship in March or April, when the temperature can be as low as –40°C (–40°F). In May or June, the female penguin lays one 450 g (1 lb) egg, but at this point her nutritional reserves are exhausted and she must immediately return to the sea to feed. Very carefully, she transfers the egg to the male, who incubates the egg in his brood pouch for about 65 days. After about two months, the female returns and takes over caring for the chick, feeding it by regurgitating the food that she has stored in her stomach. The male then leaves to take his turn at sea. After another few weeks, the male returns and both parents tend to the chick by keeping it off the ice and feeding it regurgitated food. About two months after the egg hatches, as the weather becomes milder, the chicks huddle in a crèche for warmth and protection, still fed by their parents. Eventually, both the chick and parents return to the sea and spend the rest of the summer feeding there. At the end of the summer the whole inland trip is repeated for all those penguins of breeding age, while the younger ones stay at the sea edge.
 * Articles this image appears in:Emperor Penguin
 * Creator:Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation


 * Support as nominator ZeWrestler   Talk 23:31, 16 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Weak support &mdash; This image lacks a certain quality that some of our best images have, but it most certainly makes up for it in encyclopedic value. Just looking at this image thumbnail makes me want to read more about penguins. ♠ SG →Talk 06:56, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Weak support - weak, because the middle cycle of feeding/returning is not very clearly integrated into the timing - should there be month names there too? --Janke | Talk 13:58, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Support As you said "very informative and extremely encyclopedic". NyyDave 14:46, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Weak support. Image should use metric or a combination of the two. It might also be better to only have numbers in the image, so it's more flexible for use with other language encyclopedias. &mdash; BRIAN 0918 &bull; 2007-10-17 16:32Z
 * Weak support Excellent encylopaedic quality - however, it is a little small and it should include a conversion from miles to kilometer ("60-100 mile march to rookery"). --Aqwis 18:40, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Support This image has pretty much everything going for it. It is really well laid out, and easy to understand given the complexity. I'm willing to overlook the lack of kilometer conversion if it is given in the caption. I think the current caption is too long, so I propose a shorter one below. (137 vs 235 words) Jeff Dahl (Talk • contribs) 01:50, 18 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Proposed revised caption The Emporer penguin breeding season begins in April and May, when sexually mature adults must make a 60-100 mile (96-160 km) journey overland to mate. Females lay a single egg and then carefully transfer it to the male, who incubates it while the female returns to the sea to feed. Once the females have returned, the males take their turn to feed, and after the chicks hatch in August, they are fed by the parent's regurgitated food. The male and female take turns feeding a further six times, and eventually both the chick and parents return to the sea to spend the rest of the summer feeding there. At the end of the summer the whole inland trip is repeated for all those penguins of breeding age, while the younger ones stay at the sea edge.
 * I like that yours is simpler, but I prefer the original, due to time precision. From your caption, I don't know how old a "sexually mature adult" is, nor do I know how long the incubation period is. ♠ SG →Talk 05:33, 18 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Given ♠ SG comments, I've modified Jeff Dahl's version. -- ZeWrestler   Talk 14:18, 18 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Proposed revised caption rewrite of Jeff Dahl's version Emperor Penguins first begin to breed at approximately five years of age. Breeding season begins in April and May, when sexually mature adults must make a 60-100 mile (96-160 km) journey overland to mate. Females lay a single egg and then carefully transfer it to the male, who incubates it for 65 days while the female returns to the sea to feed. Once the females have returned, the males take their turn to feed, and after the chicks hatch in August, they are fed by the parent's regurgitated food. The male and female take turns feeding a further six times, and eventually both the chick and parents return to the sea to spend the rest of the summer feeding there. At the end of the summer the whole inland trip is repeated for all those penguins of breeding age, while the younger ones stay at the sea edge.


 * Is "go feed" good American English? It sounds very slangy to me (but we Brits speak different of course!). --MichaelMaggs 19:11, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Not really, unless it's an imperative to livestock. de Bivort 21:10, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

MER-C 08:46, 25 October 2007 (UTC)