Penguins and People

There are eighteen species of penguins on earth, all of them in the southern hemisphere. In 1497, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama documented his encounter with these peculiar birds: ‘resembling ducks in size’, they could be ‘clubbed to death quite easily’ and ‘brayed like donkeys’, he wrote. Since this first reported encounter penguins have suffered much harassment from humans.

The handsomest bird on the planet faces a serious threat of extinction due to our consumption of its meat and eggs, extraction of its oils, overfishing, the destruction of habitat, pollution and warming of the ocean. Following the extinction of the dodo in the seventeenth century and the great auk in the nineteenth century, an iconic walking bird – whose lineage spans over sixty million years – is once again teetering on the brink.

Haenen’s global odyssey exposes the urgent need to address habitat colonisation, ocean pollution, and overfishing. The narrative not only celebrates the charm of penguins but also underscores the pressing need for conservation in the face of impending doom.

• A journey from New Zealand to Patagonia, Japan to Antarctica, Cape Town to Boston monitoring this loveable, iconic bird

• The first comprehensive penguin survey in book form of its kind

• Penguins are 60 million years old and in 60 years they will be largely extinct

• Unique photo material from penguin watchers and specialists all over the world

Year of publication
2023

Page count
296

Publisher
Querido

Rights
Martijn Prins
m.prins@singeluitgeverijen.nl
Sample translation available