tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/penguin-4171/articlesPenguin – The Conversation2023-12-27T09:09:09Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2199892023-12-27T09:09:09Z2023-12-27T09:09:09ZWhich zoo animals are most active in winter and what times are best to see them?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566032/original/file-20231215-15-11mkge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=29%2C67%2C4970%2C3261&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Amur tigers are evolved for winter weather</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/snowflakes-wild-cat-tiger-winter-nature-1231255066">Ondrej Prosicky/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The temperature has dropped, the nights have drawn in. The winter holidays have started, families are gathered – so where can you go to fuel the imagination and get some fresh air? A zoo might not be your first thought – but with some offering reduced ticket prices and smaller crowds than in summer, your nearest zoo on a cold, crisp winter’s day might be just the place.</p>
<p>We might think that their most popular animals, large mammals, are only active in summer, because that time of year suits us better. However, not all animals love sunshine and the hot days of summer. Some prefer cooler weather and are more active in colder temperatures. Here are ten animals to look out for on a winter visit to the zoo:</p>
<h2>1. Amur tiger</h2>
<p>In the wild, Amur tigers live in northern China and Russia so are used to the cold, making them more active during our winter months. These endangered animals are crepuscular (<a href="https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jzo.12622?casa_token=TyJcM9gUMaMAAAAA%3AoVnzcHYYTEod9Eg8s_eQgr8XANC9hekc7rGkYultZ3ecCqRzAU469_oW_j5vaDEQeqqhyzBel4FY0mQ">active at dawn and dusk</a>), so I would head over to see them towards the end of your day at the zoo. There are currently 40 Amur tigers living in 17 UK zoos.</p>
<h2>2. Grey wolf</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/3746/247624660">Native to</a> Eurasia, the US, Canada and Greenland, the grey wolf lives in many different habitats, including places where temperatures drop as low as -40°C. Grey wolves can communicate across up to ten miles using <a href="https://y86aca.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Spontaneoushowling.pdf">individually recognisable howls</a>. They also howl during the breeding season (February-March), so you might be lucky and hear them in the zoo during late winter or early spring.</p>
<h2>3. Bison</h2>
<p>In the wild, bison live in <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/2814/45156279">northern Europe and Russia</a> as well as in the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/2815/123789863">US and Canada</a>, so they cope well in UK winters. These animals <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00265-003-0599-y">will be foraging</a> for most of the day, and are likely to be out in all weathers.</p>
<h2>4. Red panda</h2>
<p>Wild red pandas live in the forests of the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/714/110023718">Himalayas and China</a>, between 2,500m and 4,800m above sea level. These endangered animals will be active around feeding time – check the zoo’s schedule so you can time your visit to watch them climb down from their treetop snooze spot.</p>
<h2>5. Red squirrel</h2>
<p>Native to the UK, these cute mammals are already used to British winter conditions. There are still places where you can see them in the wild, such as the Isle of Wight and Scottish woodlands. But their numbers have <a href="https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/43424/1/1450935_Fingland.pdf">been in decline</a> since grey squirrels from the US were introduced in the 19th century. Some zoos in the UK are part of a <a href="https://www.dudleyzoo.org.uk/red-squirrel-success/">captive breeding</a> and release programme, working to restore their numbers in the wild.</p>
<h2>6. Polar bear</h2>
<p>It won’t come as a surprise that this much-loved winter animal is on our list – and you should see playful polar bears swimming and splashing around in their pools a lot more in winter. Four UK zoos house them: Peak Wildlife Park near Stoke-on-Trent, Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster, Highland Wildlife Park in Cairngorms National Park, and Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park in Ipswich.</p>
<h2>7. Snow leopard</h2>
<p>The name gives this one away as another big cat that likes the cold. Snow leopards live in the rugged mountains of central Asia. They are <a href="https://snowleopardconservancy.org/pdf/Jackson%20PhD%20thesis%20+%20photo.pdf">quite elusive</a> so spotting them, even in zoos in the winter, may be a challenge. However, if you aim for late afternoon, you’re more likely to be rewarded.</p>
<h2>8. Penguin</h2>
<p>A lot of penguins found in UK zoos are not from the freezing Antarctic. African and Humboldt penguins, for example, are from much warmer regions of the southern hemisphere. But that doesn’t stop them wanting to engage with zoo visitors through the windows while swimming in winter – just like those from colder climates, such as the gentoo penguins shown here at Belfast Zoo.</p>
<h2>9. Reindeer</h2>
<p>The reindeer you see at the zoo may be getting some rest before they make their estimated <a href="https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/christmas/santas-reindeer-would-have-to-travel-a-distance-of-over-41-million-miles-to-deliver-presents-238014">31-hour journey of 41 million miles</a> to deliver all the presents on Christmas Eve. Males shed their antlers in autumn and winter, while females keep theirs until spring – meaning that Santa’s sleigh is probably pulled by female reindeer.</p>
<h2>10. Reptile house (to defrost)</h2>
<p>There is nothing better than a reptile house or aquarium to help you defrost after being outside. The animals housed here need warm conditions to survive, so the whole area normally feels warm. They will also be more peaceful places given the lower zoo visitor numbers at this time of year, so you can take your time looking at these fascinating animals.</p>
<p>You may be wondering how animals from warmer climates cope with British winters. Zoos should always be conscious of animal welfare and this includes providing heated indoor areas. The best way for zoos to maintain high animal welfare is to let the animals decide where they want to go. Inside with protection from the weather, or outside in the fresh cold air – the <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/9/6/318">choice should be theirs</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219989/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Ward does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Not all animals retreat to their shelters in cold weather.Samantha Ward, Associate Professor of Zoo Animal Welfare, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1702522022-01-24T13:26:18Z2022-01-24T13:26:18ZHow many bones do penguins have?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434592/original/file-20211130-18-6ev632.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=65%2C0%2C1922%2C1326&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Specialized anatomy means flightless penguins are master swimmers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Penguin_in_Antarctica_jumping_out_of_the_water.jpg">Christopher Michel </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
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<p><strong>How many bones do penguins have? – Sawyer, age 7, Media, Pennsylvania</strong></p>
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<p>As a <a href="https://vetmed.tennessee.edu/about/faculty-staff/profiles/?id=1663">zoo and wildlife veterinarian</a>, I sometimes take care of penguins – both in the wild and in aquariums and zoos. </p>
<p>I’m always fascinated when I have to take X-rays of an injured bird that might have a broken bone, is sick or having difficulty moving. While penguins might look like simple, torpedo-shaped ice-waddlers, their bodies are actually quite complex. </p>
<p>Even though they look nothing like people or animals you may encounter every day – like dogs and cats – they have similar skeletons and joints. They even have knees and elbows, but have about half as many bones. A human skeleton is made up of 206 bones. A penguin has just 112 in its whole body. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428599/original/file-20211026-27-bfwt0t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Penguinbs have far fewer bones than many animals." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428599/original/file-20211026-27-bfwt0t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428599/original/file-20211026-27-bfwt0t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=987&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428599/original/file-20211026-27-bfwt0t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=987&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428599/original/file-20211026-27-bfwt0t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=987&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428599/original/file-20211026-27-bfwt0t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1241&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428599/original/file-20211026-27-bfwt0t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1241&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428599/original/file-20211026-27-bfwt0t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1241&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">X-ray of a penguin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>All birds evolved for flight, with feathers, wings and a body that allows them to soar high in the sky. To attain liftoff, over time penguins evolved to have fewer bones in their skeletons.</p>
<p>How did they do that? Some of their bones actually fused together, including their ankles. Unlike humans, who have <a href="https://teachmeanatomy.info/lower-limb/joints/ankle-joint/">two main ankle bones</a>, a bird’s <a href="https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/features/birdanatomy/">leg bone</a> connects directly with its feet and toes. </p>
<p>Birds also have fewer bones in their spines than many animals. Their lower back bones joined together into just one bone, called the <a href="https://www.bioscience.com.pk/topics/zoology/item/717-synsacrum-in-birds">synsacrum</a>. The only other animals to have this type of backbone were the dinosaurs. For the birds, this helps them keep their bodies in a horizontal position without tiring out their back muscles while flying or swimming. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428603/original/file-20211026-25-1axgwc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Humbolt penguins live in South America, in Chile and Peru." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428603/original/file-20211026-25-1axgwc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428603/original/file-20211026-25-1axgwc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428603/original/file-20211026-25-1axgwc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428603/original/file-20211026-25-1axgwc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428603/original/file-20211026-25-1axgwc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428603/original/file-20211026-25-1axgwc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428603/original/file-20211026-25-1axgwc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Wild Humboldt penguins.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julie D. Sheldon</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Bird bones in general are unique. They are lightweight and hollow, which allows the animal to take flight. Because birds need a lot of oxygen for an intense activity like flying, their bones are filled with spaces for air and they also have nine air sacs that surround their lungs. </p>
<p>But wait, you might be thinking, “Penguins don’t fly at all.” That’s right, they evolved for a life on land and in the water, and they have a unique skeleton compared to many other birds. </p>
<p>The first penguins, which appeared shortly after the dinosaurs went extinct about <a href="https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/seabirds/penguins">66 million years ago</a>, were flightless. Ten million years later, they had become great swimmers. Present-day species spend up to 75% of their time in the ocean. That meant they had to grow heavier so they could dive underwater to hunt for food. </p>
<p>Penguins developed <a href="https://www.penguins-world.com/penguin-anatomy/">dense, hefty bones</a> that don’t have the air pockets that flying birds have. That helped make up for the air sacs around their lungs. Their bulky bones keep them from floating up to the water’s surface, like a scuba diver who straps on a weight belt to submerge. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/StyA47XyCXw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Penguins are uniquely adapted to swim underwater.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Penguins’ wings are also different because these birds need to swim, not soar into the sky. Penguins’ wings morphed into what look like short, flat, <a href="https://seaworld.org/animals/all-about/penguins/physical-characteristics/">stiff fins</a> that don’t bend like flying birds’ do. They also have fewer bones than other birds. </p>
<p>Their wings act like paddles, helping them race through the water at high speeds. Gentoo penguins can <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/14-fun-facts-about-penguins-41774295/">swim up to 22 mph</a>. That’s much faster than Olympic champion swimmer Michael Phelps, who broke a world record for humans at 5.5 mph. </p>
<p>The combination of hefty bones and powerful finlike wings allows penguins to descend quickly and dive incredibly deep to hunt for fish, krill and other food. An emperor penguin can go down to at least <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=115268">1,500 feet</a>, which is about the length of five football fields.</p>
<p>Thanks to their fewer number of dense bones and other cool adaptations, penguins are champions of open water.</p>
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<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Sheldon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How did penguins end up with so few bones – and become lightning-fast swimmers?Julie Sheldon, Clinical Assistant Professor of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1415252020-06-26T05:16:31Z2020-06-26T05:16:31ZTrials of Portnoy: when Penguin fought for literature and liberty<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344214/original/file-20200626-33557-1a3m8b8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C1%2C1078%2C530&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One grey morning in October 1970, in a crowded, tizzy-pink courtroom on the corner of Melbourne’s Russell and La Trobe Streets, crown prosecutor Leonard Flanagan began denouncing a novel in terms that were strident and ringing. </p>
<p>“When taken as a whole, it is lewd,” he declared. “As to a large part of it, it is absolutely disgusting both in the sexual and other sense; and the content of the book as a whole offends against the ordinary standards of the average person in the community today – the ordinary, average person’s standard of decency.”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344192/original/file-20200626-33538-g9bmq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344192/original/file-20200626-33538-g9bmq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344192/original/file-20200626-33538-g9bmq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344192/original/file-20200626-33538-g9bmq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344192/original/file-20200626-33538-g9bmq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344192/original/file-20200626-33538-g9bmq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344192/original/file-20200626-33538-g9bmq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344192/original/file-20200626-33538-g9bmq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Scribe</span></span>
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<p>The object of Flanagan’s ire that day was the Penguin Books Australia edition of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43945.Portnoy_s_Complaint">Portnoy’s Complaint</a>. Frank, funny, and profane, Philip Roth’s novel — about a young man torn between the duties of his Jewish heritage and the autonomy of his sexual desires — had been a sensation the world over when it was published in February 1969. </p>
<p>Greeted with <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/05/23/how-philip-roths-portnoys-complaint-scandalized-and-forever-changed-american-literature/">sweeping critical acclaim</a>, it was advertised as “the funniest novel ever written about sex” and called “the autobiography of America” in the Village Voice. In the United States, it sold more than 400,000 copies in hardcover in a single year — more, even, than Mario Puzo’s The Godfather — and in the United Kingdom it was published to equal fervour and acclaim.</p>
<p>But in Australia, Portnoy’s Complaint had been banned. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/philip-roth-was-the-best-post-war-american-writer-no-ifs-or-buts-97108">Philip Roth was the best post-war American writer, no ifs or buts</a>
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<h2>Banned books</h2>
<p>Politicians, bureaucrats, police, and judges had <a href="https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/5962177">for years</a> worked to keep Australia free of the moral contamination of impure literature. Under a <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/CommsLawB/2010/9.pdf">system of censorship</a> that pre-dated federation, works that might damage the morals of the Australian public were banned, seized, and burned. Bookstores were raided. Publishers were policed and fined. Writers had been charged, fined and even jailed. </p>
<p>Seminal novels and political tracts from overseas had been kept out of the country. Where objectionable works emerged from Australian writers, they were rooted out like weeds. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-23/dangerous-and-deeply-disgusting-books-once-banned/11421108">Under the censorship system</a>, Boccacio’s Decameron had been banned. Nabokov’s Lolita had been banned. Joyce’s Ulysses had been banned. Even James Bond had been banned.</p>
<p>There had been opposition to this censorship for years, though it had become especially notable in the past decade. Criticism of the bans on J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and Norman Lindsay’s Redheap had prompted an almost complete revision of the banned list in 1958. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/shortcuts/2016/mar/06/return-oz-most-controversial-magazine-60s-goes-online">repeated prosecutions of the Oz magazine team</a> in 1963 and 1964 had attracted enormous attention and controversy. </p>
<p>Outcry over the bans on Mary McCarthy’s The Group and D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover had been loud and pronounced, and three intrepid Sydney activists had exposed the federal government to ridicule when they published a domestic edition of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/794688?seq=1">The Trial of Lady Chatterley</a>, an edited transcript of the failed court proceedings against Penguin Books UK for the publication of Lady Chatterley’s Lover in Britain in 1960.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-melbourne-bookshop-that-ignited-australian-modernism-138300">Friday essay: the Melbourne bookshop that ignited Australian modernism</a>
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<hr>
<h2>Penguin goes to battle</h2>
<p>Penguin Books Australia had been prompted to join the fight against censorship by the <a href="https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A28218">three idealistic and ambitious men at its helm</a>: managing director John Michie, finance director Peter Froelich, and editor John Hooker. </p>
<p>In five years, the three men had overhauled the publisher, improving its distribution machinery and logistics and reinvigorating its publishing list. They believed Penguin could shape Australian life and culture by publishing interesting and vibrant books by Australian authors. </p>
<p>They wanted Penguin’s books to engage with the political and cultural shifts that the country was undergoing, to expose old canards, question the orthodox, and pose alternatives. </p>
<p>Censorship was no small topic in all this. Those at Penguin saw censorship as an inhibition on these ambitions. “We’d had issues with it before, in minor ways,” Peter Froelich recalled, “and we’d have drinks we’d say, ‘It’s wrong! How can we fix it? What can we do? How do we bring it to people’s attention, so that it can be changed?’”</p>
<p>The answer emerged when they heard of the ban placed on Portnoy’s Complaint. Justifiably famous, a bestseller the world over, of well-discussed literary merit, it stood out immediately as a work with which to challenge the censorship system, just as its British parent company had a decade earlier. </p>
<p>Why not obtain the rights to an Australian edition, print it in secret, and publish it in one fell swoop? As Hooker — who had the idea — put it to Michie, “Jack, we ought to really publish Portnoy’s Complaint and give them one in the eye”.</p>
<p>The risks were considerable. There was sure to be a backlash from police and politicians. Criminal charges against Penguin and its three leaders were almost certain. Financial losses thanks to seized stock and fines would be considerable. The legal fees incurred in fighting charges would be enormous. Booksellers who stocked the book would also be put on trial. But Penguin was determined. </p>
<p>John Michie was resolute. “John offered to smash the whole thing down,” Hooker said, later. When he was told what was about to happen, federal minister for customs Don Chipp swore that Michie would pay: “I’ll see you in jail for this.” But Michie was not to be dissuaded.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qamKz_PwnPg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘People who took exception to it at the time are mostly dead,’ Roth said, some 40 years and 30 books after Portnoy’s Complaint was published.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A stampede</h2>
<p>In July 1970, Penguin arranged to have three copies of Portnoy smuggled into Australia. In considerable secrecy, they used them to print 75,000 copies in Sydney and shipped them to wholesalers and bookstores around the country. It was an operation carried out with a precision that Hooker later likened to the German invasion of Poland. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344211/original/file-20200626-33533-15h3xx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344211/original/file-20200626-33533-15h3xx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344211/original/file-20200626-33533-15h3xx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344211/original/file-20200626-33533-15h3xx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344211/original/file-20200626-33533-15h3xx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344211/original/file-20200626-33533-15h3xx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1116&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344211/original/file-20200626-33533-15h3xx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1116&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344211/original/file-20200626-33533-15h3xx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1116&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Portnoy_s_Complaint.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>The book was unveiled on August 31 1970. Michie held a press conference in his Mont Albert home, saying Portnoy’s Complaint was a masterpiece and should be available to read in Australia. Neither he nor Penguin were afraid of the prosecutions: “We are prepared to take the matter to the High Court.”</p>
<p>The next morning, as the trucks bearing copies began to arrive, bookstores everywhere were rushed. At one Melbourne bookstore, the assistant manager was knocked down and trampled by a crowd eager to buy the book and support Penguin. “It was a stampede,” he said later. A bookstore manager in Sydney was amazed when the 500 copies his store took sold out in two-and-a-half hours. </p>
<p>All too soon, it was sold out. And with politicians making loud promises of retribution, the police descended.</p>
<p>Bookstores were raided. Unsold copies were seized. Court summons were delivered to Penguin, to Michie, and to booksellers the whole country over. A long list of court trials over the publication of Portnoy’s Complaint and its sale were in the offing.</p>
<h2>A stellar line-up</h2>
<p>So the trial that opened on the grey morning of October 19 1970, in the Melbourne Magistrates Court, was only the first in what promised to be a long battle. </p>
<p>Neither Michie nor his colleagues were daunted. They had prepared a defence based around literary merit and the good that might come from reading the book. They had retained expert lawyers and marshalled the cream of Australia’s literary and academic elite to come to their aid. </p>
<p>Patrick White would appear as a witness for the defence. So too would academic John McLaren, The Age newspaper editor Graham Perkin, the critic A.A. Phillips, the historian Manning Clark, the poet Vincent Buckley, and many more. They were unconcerned by Flanagan’s furious denunciations, by his shudders of disgust, and by his caustic indictments of Penguin and its leaders.</p>
<p>They were confident in their cause. As one telegram to Michie said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>ALL BEST WISHES FOR A RESOUNDING VICTORY FOR LITERATURE AND LIBERTY.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p><em>This is an edited extract from <a href="https://scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/the-trials-of-portnoy">Trials of Portnoy</a> by Patrick Mullins, published by Scribe.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141525/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick Mullins received funding from ArtsACT for the writing of the book from which this article is extracted.</span></em></p>After decades of banned books, arrests and raids, Penguin Books Australia decided to take a stand against literary censorship. A new book tells the inside story.Patrick Mullins, Adjunct assistant professor, Centre for Creative and Cultural Research, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1075392018-11-29T09:43:16Z2018-11-29T09:43:16ZDynasties: should nature documentary crews save the animals they film?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247500/original/file-20181127-76764-17bndtv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Picture this, a cute baby penguin, blown down a gully during a fierce storm, with no escape. You’ve been filming the natural world for weeks, following this individual. You’ve invested in it, become interested in it, attached to it – would you be able to let it die, or would you want to save it? Well, while filming an episode of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06mvqjc">Dynasties</a>, a BBC crew decided to intervene, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-46261959">causing controversy</a> in the process.</p>
<p>As noted by presenter David Attenborough at the end of the episode, intervention by film crews is “rare”. Indeed, the goal for any nature documentary crew is to capture the living world without succumbing to emotional distress, and thus the urge to alter the things they film. So, was saving the penguin the right thing to do? </p>
<h2>A controversial move</h2>
<p>There are many arguments against what the BBC crew did: first, death is a natural process in the animal kingdom. Without dead animals many species would starve to death. In fact, many animals have evolved to feed off other dead animals – these are the scavengers, the ones that clean up the mess – and carcasses can attract thousands of animals. For instance, <a href="https://www.audubon.org/magazine/november-december-2009/dead-whales-make-underwater-feast">carcasses of whales</a> may support fauna such as crabs, lobsters, sharks and fish, for up to 80 years.</p>
<p>Death is also needed in order for species to evolve and become adapted to their environment: evolution via natural selection, otherwise known as <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/survival-of-the-fittest-1224578">“survival of the fittest”</a>. This is where individuals that are more suited to take advantage of the resources in the environment – be they food, shelter or mates – are more likely to survive. They are also more likely to survive long enough to reproduce, hence they will pass their advantageous genes on to their offspring and, over time, we end up with a population that is perfectly adapted to their environment. Once we start intervening with this natural process we are potentially augmenting a “survival of the not-so-fit”, and often “survival of the weakest”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247547/original/file-20181127-76752-ppxplw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247547/original/file-20181127-76752-ppxplw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247547/original/file-20181127-76752-ppxplw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247547/original/file-20181127-76752-ppxplw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247547/original/file-20181127-76752-ppxplw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247547/original/file-20181127-76752-ppxplw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247547/original/file-20181127-76752-ppxplw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Survival of the fittest ensures only the best genes are passed on.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cheetah-hunting-springbuck-etosha-national-park-1034657560?src=BUfeeHn1Dbq3Js1SpXGweA-1-0">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Well-meaning</h2>
<p>However, intervention doesn’t always take the form of a benevolent documentary crew. Often, animals are saved by well-meaning people – those who want to nurture animals and provide them with the best life possible. Every spring the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) are inundated with calls from members of the public who have found <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/how-you-can-help-birds/injured-and-baby-birds/baby-birds/">“abandoned” birds</a> and tried to save them. However, most of the birds haven’t been abandoned, as they are typically only a short distance from their parents. Unfortunately, well-meaning people often <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/05/160523-when-to-rescue-wild-animals/">“rescue”</a> animals which, in reality, means that they will either be destined to a life in captivity or will be returned to the wild without the necessary skills to survive, so will probably perish. </p>
<p><a href="http://bufvc.ac.uk/articles/born-free">Born free</a>, the true story of Elsa the lioness who was rescued by George and Joy Adamson, documents how Elsa was raised by the Adamsons until she became too big and caused chaos. By this time, Elsa had been in captivity for so long that she didn’t display the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2008/01/predators-captivity-habitat-animals/">normal behaviour needed to survive in the wild</a> – she couldn’t hunt and didn’t know how to behave around other lions – she had to learn how to be a wild lion again. The film portrays the emotional attachment and inner turmoil that Joy has towards Elsa. For example, “I know what is good for her but I don’t want to let her go”, is seen in many humans, putting their own compassion over what might be best for animals.</p>
<h2>A Man-made crisis</h2>
<p>However, to denounce the direct action of humans in this way would seem to ignore the alterations humans have already made to our environment. By destroying habitats, exploiting species, polluting the planet and introducing non-native species, humans have already caused destruction to the planet, and are the cause of the <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/sixth-mass-extinction-humans-animals-conservation">current extinction crisis</a>. This could see much-loved species such as lions go extinct in the wild through <a href="https://theconversation.com/dynasties-lions-may-disappear-without-urgent-funding-for-conservation-107116">human-induced</a> threats including persecution and trophy hunting.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247700/original/file-20181128-32191-164hm0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247700/original/file-20181128-32191-164hm0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247700/original/file-20181128-32191-164hm0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247700/original/file-20181128-32191-164hm0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247700/original/file-20181128-32191-164hm0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247700/original/file-20181128-32191-164hm0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247700/original/file-20181128-32191-164hm0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A seal trapped in discarded netting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/grey-seal-horsey-beach-norfolk-england-771362797?src=Caoj2spS8YzOeY30g-O_Yg-1-13">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Given our profound impact on wild populations, it is fitting that we help as many animals as possible. One way to do this responsibly would be to undertake more effective habitat management or educate people on aspects of conservation. </p>
<p>For example, Attenborough released a three-part documentary, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p002sh15">State of the Planet</a>, in 2000, but it didn’t attract the usual number of viewers. The danger is that repetition may make people numb to the issues, or simply stop watching. Although, more recent attempts have been far more successful. The final episode of the Blue Planet II highlighted the current <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46275742">plastic problem</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45438736">people took notice</a>.</p>
<p>Indeed, the emotional response that such documentaries elicit, and that is inherent in most of us, can be beneficial. However, its benefits are often limited as the biggest conservation draws are the <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/our_work/wildlife/flagship_keystone_indicator_definition/">“flagship species”</a>, those that are cute, cuddly, charismatic and pull on our heartstrings.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247552/original/file-20181127-76752-1qew64j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247552/original/file-20181127-76752-1qew64j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247552/original/file-20181127-76752-1qew64j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247552/original/file-20181127-76752-1qew64j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247552/original/file-20181127-76752-1qew64j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247552/original/file-20181127-76752-1qew64j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247552/original/file-20181127-76752-1qew64j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Are nature documentaries part the problem or the solution?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/action-nature-wildlife-documentary-filming-cameraman-443953465?src=LY9gUYPvBZgG4-v733u3yw-1-0">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, what about the penguins? If these were animals being killed by a natural predator, it is hard to justify why you would intervene and prioritise one species of animal over another. But, if these were animals dying from a human-induced threat, surely we have a responsibility to help. Regardless of whether the storm that stranded the penguins was natural or not, I would have found it hard to watch the penguins perish.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107539/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Gentle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If animals are dying from a human-induced threat, then surely we have a responsibility to help them.Louise Gentle, Senior Lecturer in Behavioural Ecology, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/726132017-02-22T14:34:03Z2017-02-22T14:34:03ZYoung African penguins are dying because they can’t find the fish they need<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157521/original/image-20170220-15931-1s03t3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When young African penguins leave their nests for the first time they do so alone, without any guidance <a href="http://www.penguins.cl/african-penguins.htm">from their parents</a>. They need to use their instinct to follow cues in their environment to find food and stay alive in their first months at sea. Hard as that may have been in the past, today climate change and high fishing pressure have made it even more difficult.</p>
<p>For penguins in South Africa and Namibia, abundant supplies of their favoured prey, such as sardine and anchovy, are no longer where the penguins expect to find them. This causes the young birds to fall into what is known as an ecological trap. This is when they follow the usual cues to feeding grounds only to find that the sources of food in these places is no longer available. This can be due to changes in stocks of particular foods due to over-fishing or <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/climate-change-fishing-lay-ecological-trap-african-penguins">underlying environmental change</a></p>
<p>African penguins are listed as endangered by the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/">International Union for Conservation of Nature</a>, as numbers along their entire range in South Africa and Namibia have dramatically decreased in the last century and trends currently don’t show any <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22697810/0">sign of reversing</a>. In the last 50 years, the population has dropped by 80% and there are only about 23 000 breeding pairs in the wild. </p>
<p>In our <a href="http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(16)31536-6">new study,</a> we followed 54 <a href="http://penguins.neaq.org/2010/06/whats-happening-first-molt.html">juvenile penguins</a> – penguins who have lost their down feathers and are now waterproof and ready to go to sea – on their initial journey along the southern African coast using satellite transmitters. </p>
<h2>Dwindling fish stocks</h2>
<p>The birds moved to areas of the ocean where sea temperatures are low and productivity – in the form of the <a href="http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/phyto.html">phytoplankton</a> microscopic food that is the base of many aquatic food webs – is high. To do so, they travelled large distances to areas such as St. Helena Bay along the West Coast of South Africa and Swakopmund in central Namibia. Both are historically known for their high fish abundance.</p>
<p>But large fish stocks no longer exist <a href="https://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article/65/9/1676/632495/Has-the-fishery-contributed-to-a-major-shift-in">in these areas</a>. This is because of the combined effects of the changing climate and fishing pressure. Since the lower levels of the ecosystem have not been affected in the same way, the signals that the penguins would have always used to locate their prey are still intact. </p>
<p>For example the phytoplankton is still there and is still preyed upon by <a href="https://www.whoi.edu/main/topic/jellyfish-zooplankton">zooplankton</a>, microscopic animals drifting in the ocean. But today, the fish that would normally co-occur with their planktonic prey are scarce or absent. </p>
<p>Juvenile penguins are “tricked” into selecting the now poor habitat and fall into this large-scale ecological trap. This previously unnoticed ecosystem-wide phenomena explains the low survival chances of this endangered species, especially during its first year at sea. It contributes to the dramatic decline of <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ibi.12189/abstract">the penguin population</a>.</p>
<p>Modelling exercises in the current study showed that with sufficient food in these areas, the African penguin population on the West Coast of South Africa would be twice the size it is now. There would be around 5,000 pairs at Dassen and Robben Islands, instead of only around 2,500. Only juvenile penguins from the Eastern Cape colonies, located in Algoa Bay, foraged in an area which provides sufficient food, the Agulhas Bank. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157522/original/image-20170220-15908-1nb68c2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157522/original/image-20170220-15908-1nb68c2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157522/original/image-20170220-15908-1nb68c2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157522/original/image-20170220-15908-1nb68c2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157522/original/image-20170220-15908-1nb68c2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157522/original/image-20170220-15908-1nb68c2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157522/original/image-20170220-15908-1nb68c2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157522/original/image-20170220-15908-1nb68c2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the last 50 years, the Africa penguin population has dropped significantly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Escaping the trap?</h2>
<p>Several conservation measures are being taken to halt the decline of the African penguin and a few could help get the penguins out of this ecological trap. Efforts to hand-raise chicks and create <a href="https://medium.com/this-is-an-experiment/establishing-a-new-african-penguin-colony-d235ff9c4ea7#.utmopmtd3">new penguin colonies</a> may help bolster the population and build resilience against future change. <a href="https://sanccob.co.za">The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds</a>, South Africa’s largest rehabilitation centre, hand-rears several hundred chicks each year. This happens after they are abandoned in the colonies because their parents get oiled or injured, or simply cannot find enough food to raise them during the breeding season.</p>
<p>Once these birds reach fledgling age, they are released back into the wild. Fourteen of the penguins in this study were hand-reared and the results show that these chicks behave in the same way as counterparts raised by their parents. Unfortunately, these penguins also travel into areas with low food availability.</p>
<p>The chicks raised at the centre behave naturally once back in the wild and could be used as part of efforts <a href="https://experiment.com/projects/establishing-a-new-african-penguin-colony-predator-monitoring">to create new penguin colonies</a> by releasing them at designated areas where they could found new colonies in closer proximity to the available food. </p>
<p>But a great deal more needs to be done to address the problem of the ecological trap. The study shows that large scale conservation measures – such as reduced fish quota or suspension of the fisheries once the fish population falls below critical ecological thresholds – are urgently needed to protect the endangered African penguin and other seabirds in the Benguela Current, a highly productive cold water system along the west coast of Southern Africa. These measures must go hand-in-hand with conservation initiatives that are in place already.</p>
<p>The ecological trap for African penguins was discovered by tracking juveniles. This is an age group about which very little is known in many seabird species. It highlights the importance of further studies on the survival strategies in the first year of particular seabirds’ life to understand the dynamics of species across their range.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72613/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katrin Ludynia receives funding from AZA SAFE and has previously received funding through NRF, DAAD (German Exchange Programme), Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation and German governmental grants. She is affiliated with the Atlantic and the African Seabird Groups. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Sherley receives funding from AZA SAFE, the Leiden Conservation Foundation, National Research Foundation (South Africa) and has previously received funding from the Bristol Zoological Society and UK and South African government grants. He is affiliated with the Seabird Group. </span></em></p>Young African penguins are following the usual cues to feeding grounds only to find that the sources of food in these places is no longer available. This is devastating for their numbers.Katrin Ludynia, Honorary Research Associate and Research Manager at SANCCOB, University of Cape TownRichard Sherley, Research Fellow, Bristol Zoological Society and University of Exeter, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/443862015-07-09T04:20:05Z2015-07-09T04:20:05ZEndangered African penguins on the rebound, but not yet in the clear<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87677/original/image-20150707-1306-1hfl6lx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">After curbing fishing, the African penguins of the Western Cape are on the rebound.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Davide Gaglio</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s good news and bad news for the threatened penguins of South Africa’s Western Cape, according to new <a href="http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/11/7/20150237">study</a> on the impact of fishing restrictions put in place near their breeding colonies.</p>
<p>The good news is that the prevention of fishing activity can lead to noticeable increases in chick survival. The bad news is that these measures may not, on their own, be sufficient to facilitate enough population recovery to remove the birds from the endangered species list.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/11/7/20150237">study</a> was the latest to take advantage of an experiment revolving around two pairs of islands off South Africa’s coast: <a href="http://www.raggycharters.co.za/page/st_croix_and_bird_island">St Croix and Bird Islands</a> to the south, and <a href="http://www.sailafrica.steerage.co.za/harbour_dassen.htm">Robben and Dassen Islands</a> to the west. Starting in 2008, one island from each was made off-limits to fishing activity, while the other was open for business as usual. After three years the restrictions were reversed. </p>
<h2>Competition between birds and fishermen</h2>
<p>The closure was suggested because marine ecologists hoped it would minimise competition between penguins and the fishing industry within the core foraging range for the birds. </p>
<p>Even in the absence of commercial fishing activity, forage fish populations naturally undergo large <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/112/21/6648">fluctuations</a>. The seabirds that rely on these species to feed themselves and their young typically respond to the occasional food shortages with short-term behavioural <a href="http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/conservation/native-animals/birds/sea-and-shore/factsheet-7.pdf">adjustments</a>, such as skipping a breeding season.</p>
<p>But recent fishing activity, coupled with eastward shifts of the forage fish spawning grounds, have decimated fish stocks. This has affected African penguins to the point that they are no longer able to cope merely by changing how they act during the breeding season. Adult survival rates have <a href="http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3861">plummeted</a>, and the total worldwide population of the species has decreased by more than 90% since the 1930s.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87742/original/image-20150708-31563-1xy828i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87742/original/image-20150708-31563-1xy828i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87742/original/image-20150708-31563-1xy828i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87742/original/image-20150708-31563-1xy828i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87742/original/image-20150708-31563-1xy828i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87742/original/image-20150708-31563-1xy828i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87742/original/image-20150708-31563-1xy828i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87742/original/image-20150708-31563-1xy828i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Penguins feeding their young.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Richard Sherley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Survival rates show solid increase</h2>
<p>The study used a dataset spanning 13 years – ten years prior to the closure and three years after. It was designed to investigate whether the fishery closures around Robben Island were improving penguin breeding success and might therefore be a way to help the species <a href="http://news.discovery.com/animals/endangered-african-penguin-population.htm">rebound</a>.</p>
<p>Over the course of the study, a total of 1501 nests were monitored to calculate chick survivorship during each year of the study. These data were used in two ways. First, to investigate whether survivorship was related to the closure of the nearby fishery. Second, to create larger demographic models predicting how large the penguin population would be after ten years under the two different fisheries management schemes. </p>
<p>These patterns are likely to be influenced not only by the actions of fishermen, but also natural fluctuations in forage fish population numbers. The models, therefore, also contained data on the availability of anchovies and sardines in the waters near Robben Island. Because fish are able to come and go between protected and unprotected waters, the researchers also collected information on the extent to which these two forage fish species were captured by fishermen operating within 30 nautical miles around the island.</p>
<p>The results are striking. During years when the fishery was closed, chick survival was just under 66%. During years when the fishery was open, it dropped to only 47%. This 19% difference suggests that chicks are benefiting from the greater amount of food that their parents are able to locate and bring back to the nest.</p>
<p>If the closure were to be made permanent, with chick survival maintained at approximately 66% per year, we could expect to see approximately 222 breeding pairs on Robben Island in a decade. If the fishery remained open, with only 47% chick survival, we could expect only 175 pairs. In other words, closing the fisheries would likely result in an approximately 27% better population number ten years down the line. </p>
<h2>But still not enough</h2>
<p>The problem is that both of these values are still not enough. That’s because even though fishery closure is an incredibly useful management tool, it only addresses one threat to the penguins and in only one of their habitats. </p>
<p>They face a number of other potential <a href="http://www.alertdiver.com/africanpenguin">hazards</a>, such as climate change, in the non-protected areas where they spend their time when they are not breeding.</p>
<p>While it is important to celebrate the effects of small-scale fishing closures, it is also necessary to think about it as only one tool in the conservation toolbox. Adopting different <a href="http://www.reefbase.org/gefll/pdf/ebm.pdf">regimes</a> could lead to more widespread reductions in fishing pressures in South African waters. It is important not to be reliant on fishing closures only but use a range of different techniques.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44386/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caitlin R Kight does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The curbing of fishing has helped African penguins rebound from close to extinction – but it is not enough.Caitlin R Kight, Visiting Researcher, Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/379512015-02-25T14:08:17Z2015-02-25T14:08:17ZPenguin celebrates its 80th birthday – and cashes in on its past<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73166/original/image-20150226-1758-on30gj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black, white and read all over.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Penguin</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hanging “Established 1935” over your door does nothing to drive business. After all, 80 years is not a particularly long time for a publisher to have been in operation with many publishing companies having substantially longer pedigrees. Faber & Faber celebrated its <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/5983640/Faber-at-80.html">80th anniversary</a> in 2009, and the origins of companies including HarperCollins, Hodder Headline, and most notably <a href="http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780198702795.do">Oxford University Press</a>, extend far back into previous centuries.</p>
<p>Yet Penguin has been a serial celebrator of its anniversaries. Its 80th, in 2015, provides no exception. This year it is undertaking a one-off project which re-enforces both the Penguin brand and its unique history.</p>
<p>The “<a href="http://www.littleblackclassics.com/">Little Black Classics</a>” – 80 little black-and-white books selling at 80p each – go on sale on February 26. The series celebrates one of Penguin’s most iconic lists as well as its anniversary – the <a href="http://www.penguinfirsteditions.com/index.php?cat=mainL001-099">Penguin Classics</a>. With 2,600 titles, Penguin Classics sells 20,000 each day worldwide. In its press release for the series, Penguin claims that one in every 32 books sold in the UK is a Penguin Classic.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73053/original/image-20150225-1754-1mbm7i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73053/original/image-20150225-1754-1mbm7i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73053/original/image-20150225-1754-1mbm7i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73053/original/image-20150225-1754-1mbm7i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73053/original/image-20150225-1754-1mbm7i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73053/original/image-20150225-1754-1mbm7i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73053/original/image-20150225-1754-1mbm7i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The original classic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alec Spencer</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At 69 years of age, the Classics are a younger sibling. Launched in 1946, the series was a gamble by Penguin’s founder <a href="http://www.penguin.co.uk/books/penguin-special/9780141936659/">Allen Lane</a>, who appointed E V Rieu as editor of the series. Its first title, The Odyssey, was translated by Rieu himself, who worked on it while serving in the Home Guard during the Blitz. The Odyssey was an instant hit and, with sales of over 3m copies, became the most successful Penguin. That is, until it was eclipsed by D H Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover after the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/22/dh-lawrence-lady-chatterley-trial">obscene publications trial</a> in 1960.</p>
<p>The first Classics cover was designed by John Overton, and it was only in 1963 that Germano Facetti, Penguin’s artistic director, changed them – against the wishes of Rieu – to what became known as the “Black Classics”. Rieu, rather grumpily, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6930557-penguin-portrait">wrote to Lane</a> complaining: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I find it hard to believe that you would allow a newcomer to the firm, without discussion with me, its editor, to mutilate a series that you and I had created … and have since made world famous.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73054/original/image-20150225-1814-oj2fum.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73054/original/image-20150225-1814-oj2fum.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73054/original/image-20150225-1814-oj2fum.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73054/original/image-20150225-1814-oj2fum.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73054/original/image-20150225-1814-oj2fum.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1207&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73054/original/image-20150225-1814-oj2fum.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1207&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73054/original/image-20150225-1814-oj2fum.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1207&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The makeover.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alec Spencer</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But others took to the new look and the cover design of Little Black Classics, designed by Jim Stoddart, echoes the earlier Penguin tri-band. The new list is eclectic, featuring short texts (the books are only 64 pages each) from authors including Boccaccio, Matsuo Basho, and Elizabeth Gaskell. </p>
<p>More than half of the titles are in translation, which is of particular note. This is a figure far higher than the more depressing estimate that only <a href="http://www.lit-across-frontiers.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Publishing-Data-and-Statistics-on-Translated-Literature-in-the-United-Kingdom-and-Ireland-A-LAF-research-report-March-2013-final.pdf">3% of books</a> in the UK market are translated. The original Classics were originally all translations (or from Old English), bringing literature from other languages to Britain.</p>
<h2>All business no play?</h2>
<p>For Penguin, this is another example of clever back-list publishing, turning existing assets into re-marketable products dressed up in smart little outfits for a 21st-century audience. The pocket-money principle on which Penguin paperbacks were introduced to the 1935 marketplace endures in the low price point of the Little Black Classics.</p>
<p>Branding is a perennial challenge for the publishing industry. Customers’ allegiance, if at all, is to individual authors or series rather than the publisher. Penguin’s republishing, however, has branding at its heart. The press release for the new series even repeats the story of how Lane, in his search for a “dignified but flippant” identity, sent one of his staff down to London Zoo to make sketches of the penguins.</p>
<p>For a publisher with a well-established brand such as Penguin, the opportunity to say “Happy Birthday” provides a business opportunity. This keeps the brand at the forefront, celebrates its capacity to spot quality content and enables it to make more money. These go some way towards explaining <a href="http://rms.stir.ac.uk/converis-stirling/publication/10962">why a publisher might be interested in its past</a> and see a variety of different commercial and cultural values in it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73046/original/image-20150225-1807-a7a3gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73046/original/image-20150225-1807-a7a3gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73046/original/image-20150225-1807-a7a3gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73046/original/image-20150225-1807-a7a3gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73046/original/image-20150225-1807-a7a3gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73046/original/image-20150225-1807-a7a3gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73046/original/image-20150225-1807-a7a3gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A whole lotta merch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mapurbanlinguisticlandscape/14636408723/in/photolist-">mapurbanlinguisticlandscape</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course, the commodification inherent in such brand maintenance is not without its critics. One writer, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/nov/04/penguin-classics-merchandising-fiction">commenting on Penguin merchandising</a> (“bags, mugs, tea towels and deck chairs”), noted ironically how branded blank-page notebooks were more expensive than the books published under the “resurrected” 1935 Penguin design, deeming it a “once-radical publisher flogging its illustrious history”. Penguin’s historical role in providing cheap and yet good-quality books, particularly via its Classics and Pelican series, fed into a period of expanding education and changing societal mores – not least with the risky publication of the unexpurgated Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Looking at such a history, it is hard not to agree.</p>
<p>Yet Penguin – and its founder Allen Lane – was always highly commercial. It looked to take advantage of business opportunities wherever they arose. The new Little Black Classics are the same. While they could simply be understood as a commodification, keeping the Penguin brand in the minds of readers, they also extend to us an introduction to a range of lesser-known authors and texts: Baltasar Gracian, Pu Songling, and Nikolai Leskov, to name but three of the 80.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37951/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication has Affiliated University status with the Penguin Collectors' Society.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alec Spencer is a member of the Penguin Collectors' Society.</span></em></p>The Little Black Classics are 80 little black-and-white books selling at 80p each. Capitalising on a rich history?Claire Squires, Professor in Publishing Studies , University of StirlingAlec Spencer, Honorary Professor , University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/104222012-10-31T20:09:57Z2012-10-31T20:09:57ZA last gasp from a dying industry? Analysing the Penguin-Random House deal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17128/original/j87tqfqw-1351657845.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Are mega-deals between publishing houses the new business model for the book publishing industry?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two of the world’s biggest English-language book publishers, <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/29/battling-amazon-pearson-and-bertelsmann-to-form-global-consumer-publishing-giant-called-penguin-random-house-to-build-new-digital-publishing-models/">Penguin and Random House, are forming a joint venture</a>. Bertelsmann, the owner of Random House, will have 53% of the venture with Penguin’s owner, Pearson, having 47%. It is not a merger – each company retains certain ‘exclusive’ rights and, as is common with joint ventures, there are a variety of rules to protect each party. </p>
<p>So why are these two publishing giants forming Penguin Random House (PRH)?</p>
<p>The reasoning is simple. The book industry is going through a period of change driven by the internet and electronic delivery. Like the music and newspaper industries before it, traditional business models in book publishing are failing, and established publishers are desperately seeking a sustainable way forward.</p>
<p>This rationale is clear from the <a href="http://www.us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/aboutus/pressrelease/penguin_random_house_102912.html">press release</a>. Together, the two publishers “will have a stronger platform and greater resources to invest in rich content, new digital publishing models and high-growth emerging markets”. But does it make sense, or is this simply a last gasp from dying businesses?</p>
<p>Unlike recorded music and newspapers, book publishers have been reasonably successful in the internet age. The internet has created new ways to ‘sell books’. The original internet retailing model, pioneered by Amazon, involved the physical delivery of books around the world. It undermined the ability of publishers to set different prices in different countries, but at least people still bought books.</p>
<p>The second internet model, the <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/networking/its-the-end-of-books-as-you-knew-them-e-books-out-sell-hardbound-for-the-1st-time/2505">delivery of e-books, has had a bigger impact on physical book sales</a>. However, selling e-books rather than physical books has probably been positive to publishers’ profits. The marginal cost of producing and distributing an e-book is close to zero, so both prices and costs have fallen. Ease of access has broadened the book market. So why aren’t the publishers smiling all the way to the bank?</p>
<p>There are two problems with this rosy picture. First, book publishers have not driven these changes. The publishers have been followers – of Amazon and Barnes & Noble for internet retailing and of Amazon and Apple for e-books. So while new internet models have needed the publishers to access the authors and the back catalogue, the publishers have been the passive beneficiaries of innovation by others. This is unlikely to continue in the future. Someone will want to cut the publishers out of the picture and take their profits away.</p>
<p>Which brings us to the second problem: e-publishing. Apple has dipped its toes into the water with <a href="http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/">iBooks Author</a>, but others will aggressively follow. And if authors can work directly with the suppliers of e-book hardware, like the Kindle (Amazon) and iPad (Apple), then the publishers are redundant. This is why the publishers are scrambling for new business models, like the PRH joint venture. They are trying to work out a business model in a world where authors, readers, and hardware providers do not need them.</p>
<p>How should the competition watchdogs, like our Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), respond to these market developments? In the US, competition authorities prosecuted <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/06/25/120625fa_fact_auletta">Apple and six publishers for collusion</a>. The case is ongoing, but relates to contractual conditions that limited the ability of publishers to discount e-books. </p>
<p>Matthew Yglesias dismissed this case in <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/10/29/penguin_merging_with_random_house_antitrust_regulators_should_leave_publishing.html">Slate</a>, saying: “Worrying about anti-trust issues in the book publishing industry is like worrying about a horse and buggy cartel”.</p>
<p>But Yglesias misses the point. Book publishing is in a period of evolution, and market participants have strong incentives to design the market in a way that limits competition and raises profits. The US authorities correctly kept an eye out for such conduct and pounced when it arose.</p>
<p>What about the PRH deal? It requires clearance by competition authorities around the world. Should they be concerned?</p>
<p>The (unhelpful) answer is yes and no. It all depends on how fast the industry evolves. If evolution is slow, and book publishers remain the gate-keepers for authors for, say, the next five years, then a joint venture between two of the industry giants raises significant concerns. It could lead to higher prices and allow PRH and other large publishers to “massage” the industry in a way that protects their own profits.</p>
<p>In contrast, if evolution is fast, then within five years, book publishers could be reduced to niche players only dealing with back catalogue until copyright expires.</p>
<p>So competition regulators will have to hope their crystal balls are working when considering the PRH joint venture. But whether the deal is cleared or not, it is certain that we will see a lot more change in book publishing over the next few years.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10422/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen King does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two of the world’s biggest English-language book publishers, Penguin and Random House, are forming a joint venture. Bertelsmann, the owner of Random House, will have 53% of the venture with Penguin’s owner…Stephen King, Professor, Department of Economics, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.