Penguin chick has two dads

Two male Humboldt penguins cautiously guard the entrance to their cave in the "Zoo am Meer" zoological park in Bremerhaven, northern Germany, where they are fostering a six weeks old penguin chick.

After a penguin egg had been abandoned by its biological parents, it was placed in the male penguins' nest, who then adopted and hatched it.

Bremerhaven zoo veterinarian Schoene said the male birds, named Z and Vielpunkt, are one of three same-sex pairs among the zoo's 20 Humboldt penguins that have attempted to mate.

AP Photo/Focke Strangmann

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(via the Pet Blog)

20 Reasons to Love Penguins

Nebby has created a list of 20 reasons why she loves penguins.

Of course I agree!

Video: Safety in numbers

Advertising agency Duval Guillaume produced a cute ad for Belgian bus company De Lijn, emphasizing that it’s safer to travel in groups.



Watch video

(via Presurfer)

Looks like the inauguration, doesn't it?

This amazing photo was taken on South Georgia Island. The photographer says, "This is not the largest colony of king penguins on South Georgia but there were over a hundred thousand breeding pairs in this location. The brown spots are not open spaces but chicks that have not fledged."

from Flickr, by chuck12600

Take a look at it in the largest size: 3200 x 2135. Better yet, set it as your desktop wallpaper.

(via The Pet Blog)

Illogical

Solitary

Stare down

from Flickr, by eclectic echoes

Hi there!

This little guy was hatched in November, 2008, and lives at Bird World at the Denver Zoo.

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Penguin origami

This photo is from the Peabody Essex Museum Polar Attractions exhibit.

Explore the Arctic and Antarctic through compelling works of art by 30 contemporary artists. This interactive exhibition in the museum’s Art & Nature Center highlights polar regions as distinct, biologically important systems shaped over time by cyclical changes and increasingly, by human influences. Hands-on stations offer a range of exploratory opportunities for visitors of all ages to connect with ideas presented in the exhibition.

Antarctic penguins

Visit a great photo gallery from Telegraph "Emperor penguins in western Antarctica", with 22 excellent pictures of penguins in the Antarctic.

Video: Penguin Roudup

Penguins at the San Francisco Zoo express their displeasure at getting their annual vaccination for the West Nile Virus. They seem less troubled over getting their beaks trimmed.

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A penguin convention

This photo is from the Peabody Essex Museum Polar Attractions exhibit.

Explore the Arctic and Antarctic through compelling works of art by 30 contemporary artists. This interactive exhibition in the museum’s Art & Nature Center highlights polar regions as distinct, biologically important systems shaped over time by cyclical changes and increasingly, by human influences. Hands-on stations offer a range of exploratory opportunities for visitors of all ages to connect with ideas presented in the exhibition.

Video: A penguin colony on the edge

In this video, Tanya Datta from BBC interviews penguin researcher, Mike Bingham, who has studied penguins for 20 years.

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A penguin afraid of water?

WHILE his feathered friends dive happily through the icy depths, poor Kentucky the penguin perches hopelessly on his favorite rock.

Why? Because he’s afraid of WATER.

He refuses to take the plunge with his other 23 penguin pals at Blackbrook Zoological Park, in Leek, Staffs.

Staff at the zoo have seen 11-year-old Kentucky become a surprise hit with visitors at the park due to his unusual phobia.

Photo: News Team International

Source: Sun

Underwater

A Humboldt penguin (Spheniscus humboldti) dives in his pool at the zoo in Nuremberg, southern Germany, on December 10, 2008.

AFP/Getty Images

Penguin Awareness Day

January 20 is Penguin Awareness Day.

Why is today Penguin Awareness day? No one knows.

What's so special about this day? No one knows.

So - celebrate in your own way ...

from Flickr, by ekpatterson

from Flickr, by moria

from Flickr, by rarewren

Penguins get cataracts?

Ajani doesn't just have happy feet, he has happy eyes now, too.

That's because the 14-week-old African black-footed penguin, blind since birth due to cataracts, was able to see for the first time Thursday.

Nicole MacLaren, a veterinary ophthalmologist at Eye Care for Animals in Salt Lake City, performed successful bilateral cataract surgery on the penguin, a resident of the Tautphaus Park Zoo in Idaho Falls.

Source: Deseret News

Disappearing Rockhoppers

The number of northern rockhopper penguins on the South Atlantic islands of Tristan da Cunha and Gough Islands is believed to have fallen by 90 per cent in the last 130 years.

An estimated two million of the endangered species have vanished in the last half century, according to reports, but the cause for their rapid decline remains a mystery.

More than 80 per cent of the world's northern rockhopper penguin population live on the two islands and the dramatic fall in numbers has caused concern.

The declines on Gough since the 1950s are equivalent to losing 100 birds a day for the last 50 years.

Photo: ABBIE TRAYLER-SMITH

Meet Pickles

A penguin chick hand-reared by zoo keepers after a family squabble has been named Pickles.

Keepers at Living Coasts in Torquay took in the African penguin chick when it became clear it wasn’t getting as much food as its older sibling. The chick lived the highlife for nearly 4 months, nestling indoors in a cosy den with a cuddly penguin toy for company. It returned to Penguin Beach once it was big enough to take care of itself.

Living Coasts senior head keeper Tony Durkin said: “Pickles has settled back into the colony with no problem at all."

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Weighing in

Penguin Sigrid stands on the scales during the annual inventory at the zoo in Hanover, western Germany, on January 12, 2009. During the last weeks, all 1,705 animals living at the zoo were weighed and measured.

AFP/Getty Images