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Dyan deNapoli, “The Penguin Lady,” on Penguin Awareness Day
January 20th is Penguin Awareness Day, so our featured guest for this week is penguin expert Dyan deNapoli, who is known around the world as The Penguin Lady. Dyan is the award-winning author of two books about penguins. She has spoken multiple times at TED conferences as well as for the TED-Ed series, and is a regular guest speaker for Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic.
In this interview, Dyan shares some fascinating facts about penguins with us and dispels some common myths about these wonderful and surprisingly diverse creatures.
Penguins Under Threat
Did you know that 10 of the world’s 18 penguin species are in imminent danger of extinction? What does this mean, not only for penguins, but for our planet?
Dyan explains in our interview that the two main threats to penguins worldwide are overfishing and climate change. She also brings out that penguins are known as “indicator species” – the health of their populations is looked to as an indicator of overall ocean health, and, by extension, the health of our entire planet.
Of course, the best way to remove our contribution to overfishing is to simply leave fishes and other sea animals off our plates. Furthermore, since animal agriculture is one of the leading drivers of climate change, research shows that replacing all animal products in our diets with plant-based alternatives is the most effective way to reduce our individual contribution to it.
You can find more information on how to help endangered and threatened penguins on Dyan’s website.
This show was produced and hosted by Elyse Jacobson, with guest cohost Amir Ali.