The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A penguin wandering on a runway stops traffic
New Zealand airport crews rush to rescue little flightless bird.
A kororá on the tarmac was a traffic stopper at the Wellington International Airport on Jan. 12.
Everyone knows penguins can’t fly. That didn’t stop a kororā from showing up at Wellington International Airport in New Zealand last month. Airport staff rushed to rescue the only bird on the tarmac without aerodynamic wings.
In the early afternoon of Jan. 12, an Air Chathams pilot preparing for takeoff spotted the little blue penguin waddling around the southern end of the runway. The plane waited while airport employees scooped up the bird, which reportedly appeared a little ruffled.
According to Jack Howarth, the airport’s wildlife officer, sensors registered the runway temperature at 122 degrees. In a statement, he said the penguin was in a “less-than-impressed mood” and did not appear very cheerful.
The world’s smallest penguin is not a daytime land dweller. They spend most of their waking hours in the water, snacking on fish, krill, squid and other aquatic delights. They leave their coastal colonies at dawn and return at dusk. The blue penguin, which is also known as a fairy penguin or kororā in the Māori language, lives only in New Zealand and Australia.
Wellington Zoo spokesman Zel Lazarevich said the kororā reside in nests at nearby Lyall Bay, a popular surf beach, and the airport’s surprise visitor likely got lost on its way home.
Howarth said this was the first penguin to breach the airport’s fortifications. He said it likely squeezed under the fencing. The airport has since penguin-proofed its perimeters.
Airport employees Alex McGregor and Kaleb Woodcock tended to the bird. They swaddled it in a blanket and drove it to safety. The staff at the Nest Te Kōhanga, the veterinary hospital that treats the zoo’s residents and native wildlife, took over its care. At intake, Lazarevich said the patient was about six weeks old and recently fledged.
It was hungry and slightly underweight.
The penguin received a full physical, including X-rays and bloodwork. The vets placed the bird on a weight-gain diet that was heavy on fish. The fledgling has since lost its baby feathers, and the staff is waiting for its adult feathers to become waterproof before they can release it.
The penguin is the newest member of a menagerie that has infiltrated airports, including musk ox, caribou, seals and moose on Alaska airfields, alligators at Orlando’s airport, diamondback terrapins at JFK in New York, wild hares at Milan’s Linate Airport and foxes at England’s Manchester Airport. In Australia, airport employees have to shoo away pesky kangaroos. Last February, an Air New Zealand pilot screeched to a halt after landing at Dunedin Airport to make way for a hedgehog.
Q: I’ve noticed some red, squiggly blood vessels just under the skin of my cheeks and around my nose. What are they, exactly? And is it possible to get rid of them?
A: Those tiny blood vessels that typically crop up around your nose, cheeks or chin are common, dermatologists say. They’re called telangiectasias — or, informally, spider veins, because they “look like spider webs,” said Dr. Amy Huang, a dermatologist in New York City.
Telangiectasias are small dilated blood vessels that have become damaged and are visible just under the skin’s surface. They often appear on the face, but can occur anywhere on the body, including the legs.
They’re not harmful, said Dr. Mitchel Goldman, a dermatologist in San Diego who specializes in vein treatments, adding, “They just look unsightly.”
Though the veins are tiny, measuring only about 1 millimeter in diameter (about the width of a sharpened pencil point), he said, they might be so displeasing that you’ll want to remove them. lamina, which he compared to plastic wrap. When the coating is destroyed, it causes blood vessels to expand and become visible just under the skin.
Ultraviolet radiation from the sun can also interfere with the skin’s cellular repair process and cause the skin’s tissue to break down, making spider veins more visible, said Dr. Stephen Warren, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon in New York City.
Your face is most susceptible to spider veins simply because it’s usually not covered up and it tends to get more sun exposure than other parts of the body, Warren said.
Genetics may predispose you to spider veins as well, Huang said. So can aging, when your skin loses collagen, making spider veins more apparent.
Facial trauma, such as from surgery or an injury, can cause spider veins, too, Goldman said.
Increased blood levels of the hormone estrogen is another cause of spider veins, putting those who are pregnant or taking birth control or estrogen replacement therapy at higher risk, Huang said. the laser destroys the blood vessel, causing it to shrink and eventually dissolve and be reabsorbed by the body, Huang said.
One way to do that is with a pulsed dye laser, which uses intense, concentrated light beams to destroy the blood vessel without damaging the skin around it.
Another option is the Nd:YAG (or neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet) laser, Goldman said. This laser penetrates deeper into the skin than other types of lasers and is less likely to cause pigmentation changes.
Intense pulsed light therapy can also get rid of spider veins, Goldman added, by using pulses of light to target blood vessels and boost collagen production. The treatment uses a broad spectrum of light, so it can also be used to treat other skin issues, like acne scars, hyperpigmentation and wrinkles, at the same time.
Laser and intense pulsed light treatments may cause a little pain, Goldman said. But they are safe and the side effects, such as minor, temporary bruising, are minimal.
However, scarring or pigmentation changes are possible if the treatment isn’t performed correctly — so Goldman recommends going to a board-certified dermatologist or other physician experienced in these procedures.