Today's Women's Daily/Fengwang Reporter Zhang Qingqing Correspondent Zhang Xianji
Does the knowledge in art textbooks have to be correct? Do all penguins live in snow and ice? Xia Yuxin, a sixth-grade primary school student in Changsha, gave a negative answer. Recently, when she was flipping through the "Art" textbook in the fourth grade of primary school, she found a picture of a penguin, which may have been wrong.
Do all penguins live in snow and ice?
Xia Yuxin, a sixth-grade student at the Yuelu District Experimental Primary School in Changsha, has loved small animals since she was a child and likes to read books and documentaries related to natural science. By chance, when she was looking through the art textbook for the fourth grade of primary school, she found a picture of a penguin in the lower right corner of page 37, which may have been wrong.
On December 3, the reporter of Today's Women's Daily/Fengwang flipped through this art textbook, which was published by Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House and belonged to the compulsory education textbook approved by the Ministry of Education. The "problem picture" xia yuxin points out is a penguin picture with glaciers as the background.
(Picture in art textbook)
Xia Yuxin told reporters that she likes to watch the BBC documentary "Penguin Spy" the most.
When she saw this "penguin on the glacier" on the picture of the art book, she immediately recognized that this penguin was very similar to the Hong's ring penguin (also known as the Peruvian penguin and Humboldt penguin) in the documentary "Penguin Spy", and the Hong's ring penguin belonged to the temperate penguin and could not appear on the glacier background.
"When I found out about this problem, I told my parents first, and they encouraged me to doubt and verify." Xia Yuxin said.
(Comparison of two penguins on Baidu Encyclopedia)
With the encouragement of her parents, she repeatedly watched the documentary, and after careful identification, she found that although the penguins in the art textbook were very similar to the Hong's ring penguins, the distribution of the neck rings was different. Could it be a close relative of The Hung's Ring Penguin? Xia Yuxin opened up new ideas and continued to look for relevant information.
Xia Yuxin first looked up Baidu Encyclopedia, consulted her aunt who was a high school geography teacher, and finally read the book "DK Museum Encyclopedia" published by Science Popularization Press and edited by the British DK Company, and was delighted to find this "same" penguin in the P416-419 pages of the penguin special edition of the book.
It turned out that the group of penguins in the art textbook was called magellan penguins (also known as South American penguins, Mai's ring penguins), and the scientific name was Spheniscus magellanicus.
Relevant information shows that the Magellan penguin, belonging to the ornithischia, penguin family, ring penguin genus, is the largest species of temperate penguins. The average weight is 4.0-4.7 kg.
Both adults and juveniles have a black beak, a black back, and a white front. The head of the adult bird is predominantly black , with a white band extending from the back of the eye through the ear to near the lower jaw. Adults also have two black bands under their necks.
This description is indeed very similar to the "glacier penguin" in the art book.
Magellan penguins inhabit temperate regions of South America, but during the non-breeding season, magellan penguins follow ocean currents northward into deeper tropical latitudes. During the breeding season, magellan penguins inhabit coastline grassland habitats. Its diet consists of fish, shrimp and crustaceans. It is mainly found off the coast of Argentina, Chile and the Falkland Islands in South America, with a small number of migrations to Brazil.
The DK Museum Encyclopedia describes that magellan penguins are also known as South American penguins and Mai's ring penguins. This striped penguin has a close relationship with the Peruvian penguin (the "Hong's ring penguin"). They live in clusters on the southern tip of South America and around the Falkland Islands.
The introduction of the original text of this section of the book also proves that the penguins in art textbooks are magellan penguins, and they belong to a kind of temperate penguin.
Xia Yuxin said that the main living environment of this penguin is temperate and tropical, and it is unlikely that a "glacial background" will appear in their living environment. This also tells us a truth, "Not all penguins live in an ice and snow environment, and we can't just label any penguin with a piece of ice and snow."
The reporter also interviewed Sinne, a professional in the penguin group of wilderness colleges, who said that the natural distribution of Magellan penguins will not reach the South Pole. If there is a glacier in the background, it is indeed not right. Its natural distribution can be as far north as the tropics close to the equator, and it is the penguin that is most adapted to high temperatures, so most of the urban aquariums and zoos have the most Magellan penguins. Wuhan East Lake Aquarium has been breeding Magellan penguins for many years.
(Xia Yuxin)
Publisher's response: A response will be given after verification
On December 3, the reporter called the textbook department of Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House to reflect the problems found by Xia Yuxin, and the staff said that they would give a reply to the reporter after verification.
Xia Yuxin's homeroom teacher Xiao Qianwen said that this child has a wide range of hobbies, is lively and intelligent, thinks quickly, speaks positively in class, and often has unique insights. Xia Yuxin's mother said that Xia Yuxin especially likes to study, and in the past year, because she is not satisfied with the translation of the Chinese version, she has transitioned to watching the original English documentary. She even found certain intellectual errors in the natural sciences of the Chinese translation in several documentaries.
EDIT: Little Girl