Image of the Day

Galapagos-Penguin_5, a photo by Stewart G Niven on Flickr.

Image of the Day

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The tallest and heaviest ever known penguin stood nearly 5 feet tall and tipped the scales at around 130 pounds, according to a 27-million-year-old fossil found in New Zealand.

This giant penguin ruled New Zealand 25 million years ago

Dan Ksepka (right) examines a specimen of Kairuku in a display case at the University of Otago's Geology Museum. The small penguin to the left is an extant Little Blue Penguin (Eudyptula minor). Photo by R. Ewan Fordyce. source

By Alasdair Wilkins

Feb 27, 2012

 

Because of its extreme isolation from any other major landmass, New Zealand's unique native ecosystem is literally for the birds. And these rather elegant-looking penguins briefly dominated this bird paradise, back when New Zealand was mostly underwater.

This artist's conception depicts the Kairuku penguin, a Maori term that loosely means "diver who returns with food." The bones of this particular penguin species were first discovered way back in 1977, but it's only now that North Carolina State researcher Dr. Dan Ksepka and his colleague Dr. Paul Brinkman from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences have been able to reconstruct what the penguin would have looked like.

Before the Maori arrived on New Zealand about 800 years ago, there were only three mammal species on all of New Zealand, all bats. In the absence of the dominant class of animal life, birds evolved to fill all the available ecological niches, creating gigantic, ostrich-like grazing birds like the moa and enormous birds of prey like Haast's eagle. And while these species dominated New Zealand at the time of the arrival of the Maori, the country wasn't always so favorable to terrestrial birds. As Dr. Ksepka explains, the New Zealand of 25 million years ago was perfect for oceangoing birds like Kairuku:

"The location was great for penguins in terms of both food and safety. Most of New Zealand was underwater at that time, leaving isolated, rocky land masses that kept the penguins safe from potential predators and provided them with a plentiful food supply."

This species was the largest of the five penguin species that lived on New Zealand at the time. At about four feet two inches tall, it would have been a couple inches taller than the Emperor Penguin, the biggest living penguin. We're not yet completely sure what was the largest penguin ever, although the current estimate seems to be at about six feet tall. In fact, if Kaikuru was built somewhat differently, it might actually have tied that record, as Dr. Ksepka observes:

"Kairuku was an elegant bird by penguin standards, with a slender body and long flippers, but short, thick legs and feet. If we had done a reconstruction by extrapolating from the length of its flippers, it would have stood over 6 feet tall. In reality, Kairuku was around 4-feet-2 inches tall or so."

The paleontologists say that they reconstructed Kaikuru from two different fossil specimens, using the living King Penguins species as a guide. For more, including the abstract of the original paper, check out the North Carolina State website.

Artwork by Chris Gaskin, owner and copyright owner: Geology Museum, University of Otago. Used with permission.

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Image of the Day

Rockhopper Penguin, a photo by old_skool_paul on Flickr.

Image of the Day

Skua on a chinstrap penguins rookery, a photo by Jo Sze on Flickr.

Beach Busters: Rubbish fouls baby bird nests

By Kirsty Wynn

Sunday Feb 26, 2012

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Little blue penguins are suffering from the effects of pollution.

Little blue penguin nests are being ruined by ignorant beachgoers trashing their burrows.
While researching the penguin's Coromandel Coast habitat, environmental management student Julia Graham was appalled to find nesting burrows filled with rubbish. "This stuff hasn't washed in, it is shoved in there and it is in places penguins would usually go to nest and breed," she said.

Many of the rubbish-filled holes had penguin feathers and guano, signs of nesting.
Penguins sit on their eggs for 55 days, then take turns to feed the chick in the nest for a few weeks until it is ready to leave.
Graham said the rubbish could be fatal if eaten and could trap the small birds. Broken glass was also a common find in the natural burrows.

Graham and a classmate collected bags of rubbish from Colville to Fletcher Bay and noted the lack of rubbish bins where cars parked.
"I can understand why they don't have bins but there needs to be some awareness so people know there are no bins and they need to take waste with them," she said.

If burrows along the beach were blocked the penguins had to go further in search of a place to nest. "It means them crossing a road and going on to farm land, which means potentially being hit by a car or taken by predators."
* * *
Clean-up crews for the next Beach-Busters event will be rewarded with fresh mussels, music and a barbecue. Simply turn up at Coromandel's Long Bay boat ramp, the Kuranui Bay Reserve in Thames, the Whangamata and Pauanui Surf Life Saving Clubs or the Whitianga Wharf between 10am and 2pm on Saturday March 3. Boaties can contact marine operations manager Sam Judd on 021 058 9349 or sam@sustainablecoastlines.org Reef Shipping will supply free fuel for boaties who register early. There will be music, fresh mussels from Sanfords, and a barbecue at the Long Bay Motor Camp near Coromandel Town in the evening of March 3.
* * *
YOUR CHANCE TO WIN BIG

Win a camera every week
Take a photo of your friends or family cleaning up your favourite beach and go in the draw to win a Sony Cyber-shot TX10, valued at $649.95. With an Underwater Sweep Panorama function and 16.2 Mega Pixels you'll be able to take stunning underwater photos, as well as crystal clear shots on land. We have one camera to give away every week for the next 10 weeks to the person who takes the best photo, as judged by Herald on Sunday illustrations editor Chris Marriner. Five runners-up will each receive a copy of the book Beached As - New Zealand Beaches Then and Now by Craig Levers.

GRAND PRIZE
At the end of our Beach Busters campaign, the overall winner will receive a grand prize package comprising:
* a Sony Tablet S valued at $749.95
* a dive, snorkel or sightseeing trip for two to the Poor Knights Marine Reserve courtesy of Dive! Tutukaka
* $400 worth of clothing from surf label Sitka.
Entries close each week at Friday noon, and the winning photo will be printed each Sunday. So get snapping, and email your best shot as a JPEG to pictures@hos.co.nz with 'Beach Busters' in the subject line. Make sure you include your name, address and daytime phone number. Include a caption giving the place and full names of the people in the photo.

Please see terms and conditions at www.nzherald.co.nz/HOScompetitions. APN New Zealand reserves the right to store electronically any pictures entered in the competition and to use the images in any of its publications.


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Penguin Nest Picture Analyser (Free software)

Product description Count all your penguins with this tool Penguin Nest Picture Analyser was developed as an utility for aiding in the counting of penguin  in images created by automated nest monitoring cameras. Now, you can make use of this Open Source and easy-to-use piece of software to count your penguins in no time at all. Get your free software HERE

Image of the Day

Pinguinos en Península de Valdés - Patagonia Argentina, a photo by www.obstinato.com.ar on Flickr.

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Limping Penguin Finds His Footing (Video)

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Image of the Day

Isla Magdalena, a photo by GrahamAndDairne on Flickr.

Penguin chick back on loose at Manly Wharf

23 Feb 12  by Charis Chang

 

 

VOLUNTEERS captured Manly Wharf’s little penguin chick this week after its feet got tangled in fishing wire.

Photographer David Jenkins noticed the baby, now nicknamed “Lucky”, was limping on the weekend.
Lucky is the baby of Manly Cove’s last breeding pair of little penguins Stickybeak and his mate Mrs Silverwing.

Penguin co-ordinator Angelika Treichler and Australian Seabird Rescue volunteer Silke Stuckenbrock decided to investigate on Monday night.

Ms Stuckenbrock said they waited until Lucky appeared in front of his nest just before sunset to wait for his parents, who had been out hunting for fish.

“Lucky was very lucky,” Ms Stuckenbrock said, as there was no damage to his legs or feet. “The line was around his legs, but it wasn’t embedded, he just couldn’t get it off his foot.”

Ms Stuckenbrock, who is also the founder of the Two Hands Project, said it highlighted the need for people to pick up their garbage.

“If you step over that piece of plastic, it will break into smaller pieces but it will still be there in 300 years. Just pick it up, especially if it’s fishing line, we always ask fishermen to take more line than brought with them.”

If you see any birds entangled in fishing line you can call Australian Seabird Rescue on 0428 862 852 or go to seabirdrescue.org.

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Fears raised over penguin colonies

24/Feb/2012

By Michele Nugent, Weekend Courier

A Garden Island penguin and her chicks.

A UNIVERSITY researcher with more than 16 years’ experience of Little Penguin colonies on Penguin and Garden islands says the proposed Mangles Bay marina has the potential to increase boat strike of the protected marine birds.

Belinda Cannell, a postdoctoral research fellow at Murdoch University’s centre for fish and fisheries research, said the world’s western-most colonies of Little Penguins was extremely fragile.

She intends to make a submission to the marina’s Cedar Woods public environmental review, which states the development could potentially disturb the colonies and cause an increase in boat strike of marine fauna, in particular Little Penguins.

Dr Cannell said about 20 per cent of dead penguins found by her team were a result of boat strike.
A stark example of the fragility of the islands’ colonies was Penguin Island’s lower-than-usual population estimate coinciding with last summer’s marine heatwave caused by one of the strongest La Nina events ever recorded.

It increased local sea temperatures by about 5C.

“Penguins won’t attempt to breed in years when there’s not enough food and last year was the worst breeding season I’ve seen since 1996,” Dr Cannell said.

She said it was also the worst since 1986 when collection of breeding data began.

“Only about a third of the normal amount of eggs were laid and this will have an effect on the population later on,” she said.

“We don’t have enough scientific data to show where the Garden Island birds feed but it’s likely to be on anchovy and pilchard in that southern area of Mangles Bay and the reduction in seagrass there, increased boat activity and pollutants in the water is unpredictable.

“It could also affect their feed stocks in an area that is a nursery for the types of fish they feed on.”
Dr Cannell said while she had some funding to fit some Garden Island birds with GPS tags from mid-year, more funds were needed to complete ongoing studies.

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King Penguin Genetic Diversity Recovers on Macquarie Island

By Dave Armstrong
22 Feb 2012

These Macquarie Island modern King Penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) amazing genetic diversity mirrors their ancestors, who were wiped out in many places; Credit: © John van den Hoff  Halfway house, between Australia and Antarctica, Macquarie Island was used as a seal and penguin exploitation site for their "blubber." Fortunately the two huge original colonies of King Penguins ended up as a single tiny surviving colony due to the efforts of conservationists. The King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) is a great survivor, unlike some species on Macquarie that become extinct quickly after sealers took over the island in the 19th century.

After at least three spp. of fur seal, elephant seals were taken and then an industry using the King Penguins in a "steam digester." Some remnants of this industry can still be seen in parts of the island. Fortunately, there was too much blood in the mix for fermenting to be successful in this industry, so Royal Penguins were attacked instead. This penguin oil industry confuses the modern ideas we have of "blubber" but although less profitable than seals, penguin oil produced half a litre per penguin. After 1919, petroleum oil became commercially successful and the island reverted to a wild environment after 109 years of total exploitation.

Cousin of the huge Emperor, the King Penguin is a magnificent diver and has impressed us for much more than its oil. Even distant Edinburgh Zoo has them as their mascot. The dive record is 343 metres, which for a 90cm bird at 16kg maximum, is remarkable. They were actually exterminated on the Falklands and Heard Island, being circumpolar, but with a 9.7 % growth in worldwide population, they have even managed to re-colonise there. On Macquarie, the 1930 population of 3,400 animals has recovered now to 70,000, with new colonies now dotted around the east coast.( One colony is growing at a rate of 66% pa.)

Digesters used to harvest penguin oil on Macquarie Island; Credit: Shutterstock
Tim Heupink, John van den Hoff, and David Lambert present the penguins in the Royal Society Journal, Biology Letters. They work from Griffiths University, in Nathan, Australia and the Australian Antarctic Division, The paper explains how ancient DNA from sub-fossil sites, including the west coast, can be used to assess how the modern recovery compares with pre-human populations and the drastic anthropogenic pressure of the 19th century. Samples from 17 natural carcasses' feet and 300mg of sub-fossil bone shavings were extracted and purified before expert mitochondrial genome investigation produced the data.

Radiocarbon-dating showed up the >1000 BP date of the sub-fossils taken.
Credit: © Tim H. Heupink. This is Tim showing the semi-fossils from Mcquarie Island
Both ancient and modern populations show great genetic diversity. No single ancestral type exists. Instead, the great population bottleneck (presumably around1930) has left no trace of shared haplotypes (genotypes) between the old and the new.
The King Penguin bottleneck diagram; Credit: © Tim H. Heupink The ancient population of the Isthmus was the group that were made extinct, leaving only the severely depleted Lusitania Bay colony with little genetic diversity. The northern population probably came from the remnants of the Lusitania Bay group. The ancient population from this area is quite closely related to the present population and it shows a similar genetic diversity. This study shows that the King Penguins in this area have recovered their original genetic diversity in only 80 years since their mass exploitation for blubber oil. Comparing ancient and modern DNA makes it possible to investigate the success of conservation measures. In this case, putting an end to exploiting King Penguins and controlling fishing and pests have clearly helped them to recover so quickly."

And the final news on Macquarie - the endemic Royal Penguins show every sign of a similar recovery to that of the Kings.

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Images of the Day (Yesterday & Today)

Image Credit: Penguin close-up © Jan Will

Image Credit: Emperor Penguin © Gentoo Multimedia

African penguin wearing a cape to keep warm at Children's Zoo at Celebration Square in Saginaw

Published: Wednesday, February 22, 2012

By Sue White | For MLive.com 

 

Enlarge Jeff Schrier | Scooter, one of six African penguins at the Children's Zoo at Celebration Square in Saginaw, shows off her sweater. Scooter did not molt this season and is stuck with a back full of frayed feathers. The other penguins molted to keep warm and waterproof for winter. Sometimes Scooter's zookeepers will give her a dog sweater to wear to keep her warm, but the other penguins pick at it, instinctively gathering material to nest.

 

SAGINAW -- Someone’s looking rather shabby-chic these days in the penguin warming house at Children’s Zoo at Celebration Square.

But the reason for Scooter’s bright dog cape, frayed by the constant pecking of her fellow African penguins, is one zookeepers take very seriously. Scooter didn’t molt this year, which means she also didn’t grow the new feathers that weave into a watertight coat.

While her caretakers make sure she doesn’t go into hypothermia, they’re studying a similar case in California where a custom-made wet suit triggered the molting process. With a little help, said zoo director Nancy Parker, the Neoprene vest could become the latest addition to Scooter’s growing wardrobe.

“People always think of penguins as cold-weather birds but ours come from South Africa, where they’re happiest when the weather is in the 60s,” said visitor services specialist Robin Carey. And even though they live along the coast-line, “it’s not humid,” she added.

Like most birds, they also molt each year, beginning with a two-week food binge that doubles their weight before they lose their plumage.
“It literally looks as if they’ve exploded,” Carey said. “There are feathers everywhere and these cute little downy penguins running around.”

They stay away from the water – hypothermia is a real risk in that state – and live off their stored fat while the new feathers come in. In a zoo setting, of course, they don’t need to go in the water to eat, “but it’s instinct,” Carey said. “We put the food out but they might eat one fish a day, at the most.”

Every so often, she added, penguins might miss a season of molting. It’s rare, Carey said, but it happens. But Scooter hasn’t shown new growth, either, and that’s cause for concern.

“Penguins have about 70 feathers per square inch, and they have oil glands at the base of their tails that produce the oil they spread over their feathers,” she said. “They need that insulation.”

An attentive zookeeper in Saginaw, browsing on the Internet, found an article titled “Why and How to Make a Penguin Wetsuit,” Parker said. It told about Pierre, a 25-year-old African penguin at the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco who didn’t molt for four years.

He also withdrew from his colony, something keepers are finding in Saginaw as the other penguins harass Scooter, who was hatched in 2001. While some might think the other ladies are jealous of her fancy penguin-wear, it has more to do with the approaching breeding season, Carey said, and looking for fancy threads to line their nests.

Zoo keepers in San Francisco tried several treatments, including heat lamps, on Pierre but he remained plucked until a seamstress experienced in making children’s costumes created a Neoprene vest. Within six weeks, his feathers had completely returned, possibly, they theorized, because the energy his body used to stay warm went instead toward sparking regrowth.

“Best of all, they included a pattern for making our own wet suit,” Parker said, brandishing the paperwork that calls for at least three square feet of black 3-millimeter Neoprene and 10 inches of black Velcro hook side and another 20 inches of the loop side. “This is something we could do.”

Visitors to Saturday’s Arctic Zoo Fest won’t see the penguins – they need temperatures of 37 degrees or higher with no wind chill, Parker said – but making appearances are the Forgotten Forest and Stock Yard inhabitants and a few kangaroos if the sun’s shining.

Activities include kids’ crafts, chainsaw woodcarving demonstrations and a meet-and-greet with real sled dogs.

“We’ll have the wolves and the bobcat, and the reptile building will be open, too,” she said. Also watch for the train, on its way back from Scientific Brake and Equipment Co. where it was spiffed up for the coming season.

“Weather permitting, it’s going to be on track,” Parker said.
The Arctic Zoo Fest takes place from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Children’s Zoo at Celebration Square, 1730 S. Washington in Saginaw. Admission is free but donations are welcome. Carousel and train rides cost $2.

The zoo kicks off its new season the last Saturday in March, with gates open from 10 a.m. to 5 p .m. daily. Admission costs $5.

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Video: Thousands take in the Penguin Plunge at the zoo

  Sergei Belski/Calgary Zoo

Thousand made their way to the Penguin Plunge exhibit in its opening weekend at the Calgary Zoo.

• Skene said the zoo is typically busy over this weekend, but the Plunge has likely added a couple thousand extra to the gate numbers.
• Signs posted at the admission counter stated a possible two hour wait to see the penguins Monday

DARREN KRAUSE

METRO CALGARY 

 

Published: February 21, 2012Like many in line for the Calgary Zoo’s Penguin Plunge Monday, Catherine Barrett was a placeholder.

Barrett, a seasoned Calgary Zoo-goer, stood with her coffee in hand — in a penguin line expected to be a minimum of two hours long — while her family took the trail through the nearby Canadian Wilds.

It didn’t bother her. It would all be worth it, she said, when she saw the look on her seven-year-old animal-loving daughter, Sofia’s face.

“They’re penguins. They’re fascinating,” Barrett said, later admitting she and her husband contemplated taking the day off mid-week to avoid the lines.

Barrett was among the thousands to take in the Calgary Zoo over the Family Day long weekend, with attendance bumped up by the new flightless birds.

“The penguin exhibit is proving to be extremely popular among our guests,” said Laurie Skene of the Calgary Zoo.

Barrett said the next exhibit brings excitement to the zoo.

“I think it’s great they brought the penguins in,” she said, noting sometimes zoos get a bad rap for having the animals in captivity.

“It’s important for people to be able to see and interact with animals like this.”

The Penguin Plunge opened last Friday.


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Baby penguins named

STEVE JACOBS

21 Feb, 2012

 

Three baby fairy penguins, born at Sydney Aquarium, have been named.
Tricia Nguyen, from Parramatta, won a competition the aquarium ran, offering visitors a chance to name the chicks.
She chose Tuxedo, Flubber and Bluey.

Her prize was a day in the life of an aquarist at the aquarium.
The aquarium's aquarists sifted through more than 1000 entries that were received throughout the two-week competition period.

They selected the names after closely monitoring the developing personalities of the chicks.
All of the chicks were born at the aquarium and, since being introduced to the colony, have received a warm welcome – particularly by Shirley, a blind penguin and mother to two of the three.

"We're extremely proud and excited to be introducing three penguin chicks to our penguin family here at Sydney Aquarium," Martin Garwood, Sydney Aquarium aquarist said soon after they were hatched.
"It's a testament to the success of our breeding program and we look forward to watching their unique behaviour develop over the next few months as they become acquainted with their parents and extended family."

Tricia Nguyen, who won the Sydney Aquarium's penguin naming competition, experiences a day in the life of an aquarist with aquarist Martin Garwood.

Baby penguin Tuxedo and other penguins being fed.

                                        

 

                                           Mum Shirley, who is blind.

 

 

 

 

 

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Image of the Day

ID photo of Mister Chinstrap penguin, a photo by Jo Sze on Flickr.

Better to travel in groups? I'll say!

Thanks Brother Rick for the heads up!

Lucky the Penguin Swims Again

View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.

A bad foot hindered his quality of life until a local shoe company created a solution

By Kristin Dahlgren

|  Monday, Feb 20, 2012  |  

A Santa Barbara Zoo penguin born with a bad foot is "Lucky" to receive a custom-made shoe that would end up saving his life.

Dorothy had her ruby red slippers, Cinderella's were made of glass, and now one local penguin is "Lucky" to have a special shoe of his own.

That's because the 1-year-old Lucky, a penguin at the Santa Barbara Zoo, had one leg that wasn't growing right.

Zookeepers became aware of the problem when they noticed Lucky walking with a limp.

They tried a splint at first, but the temporary fix prevented a pretty important aspect of any penguin's life.

"That meant he couldn't learn to swim," said Zookeeper Rachel Miller. "He couldn't be a normal penguin."

The problem affected his chances for survival.

So the zoo contacted local shoe company Teva, which designed Lucky the most helpful shoe possible. But not without challenges, of course.

"We had to make sure that he could get up and down these rocks with traction on uneven surfaces," said Stuart Jenkins, Teva vice president of business development . "When the right boot got there, it was glory hallelujah."

All of a sudden Lucky became just like all the other penguins, swimming normally with the rest of them, but Miller said there's more to it than just Lucky being able to go for a dip.

"It really took a community to make this happen," Miller said. "It saved the birds life."

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Image of the Day

Yellow Eyed Penguin, a photo by NZSam on Flickr.

Calgarians continue to show their love to the Penguins

Courtesy of 660's Teri Fikowski

---

Teri Fikowski and Nadia Jannif Feb 19, 2012

Penguin fever is sweeping through the city this long weekend with thousands gathering to see Calgary's new exhibit.

Judy Lang with the Calgary Zoo tells 660News, attendance has been through the roof since 'Penguin Plunge' opened Friday.

"We've probably had about 12,000 people though the zoo in the last two days.  So probably about 6,000 people have made it through the building," Lang says.

She recommends coming early to see the flightless birds that have already won the hearts of Calgarians.

"As the days progress, the lines get longer.  And we do have to shut them down in time to get everyone through by five o'clock, so we suggest the earlier you get here the better," says Lang.

Sunday, hundreds more lined up well before the gates opened, to take a peek a the zoo's latest attraction.

Heath was first in line with his daughter Reed and says they got here well before the gates opened.

"I heard about the line ups from yesterday (Saturday), so we wanted to get here as quick as we could and beat the crowd,"  Heath says.

The long lines didn't seem to deter many, Tara was back in line for the second time this weekend, "We waited in line to get into the exhibit for an hour and a half, and it was totally worth it, it's incredible."

The tuxedoed birds new home cost nearly $25-million dollars and is the second largest permanent penguin exhibit in North America.

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Fear little Manly penguins may go

18 Feb 12  by CHARIS CHANG

Photographer David Jenkins has taken photographs of the penguin colony. Picture: ANNIKA ENDERBORG

DURING peak periods more than 200 people crowd around Manly Wharf to catch a glimpse of its resident little penguins.
Photographer David Jenkins, a volunteer with the Manly Environment Centre, has taken photographs of the colony for the past four years and understands the fascination.
``It is quite awe-inspiring to look around at nature. To me, Manly is much more than just the beach or The Corso, there are also penguins, bandicoots and whales, to me that is what makes it such a magic place,’’ he said.
Mr Jenkins said ferry commuters as well as tourists often stopped to see the penguins. Crowds increased to more than 200 in peak periods such as Christmas.
But, Mr Jenkins also has a vital role to play, as many people fear this could be the last year Manly Cove is home to little penguins.
There is only one breeding pair left at Federation Point: Stickybeak and his mate Mrs Silverwing.
They are currently nursing one chick.

Have you spotted Stickybeak and Mrs Silverwing?

Many other penguins in the colony were killed due to dog attacks and boat incidents.
Volunteer penguin wardens reported four couples last season and five the previous year.
Mr Jenkins said Stickybeak might not survive another season and Mrs Silverwing could find another mate.
Only male penguins return to their original nesting sites and chicks have a low survival rate.
``Little penguins live about eight years and we think Stickybeak is about seven years old so he’s getting on.
``He may not survive the next breeding season and no chicks may return, so it may be the last season we see little penguins at Manly. That’s why I want to record them, to show people there were little penguins here.’’

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This Week's Pencognito!

Please visit Jen and all the Pengies by clicking here!

Shy penguin too scared to swimWritten by Lindsey Tugman

February 17, 2012

Written by

Lindsey Tugman

HARBIN, CHINA (CNN) -- Despite being a natural-born swimmer, one small penguin at an animal park in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province is too timid to dive into the water.
The little penguin's fear has brought laughs to many visitors at the park.

Born at the Harbin Polarland in the provincial capital Harbin, the young penguin is now becoming an adult, an important transitional period when penguins improve their swimming techniques.
Although penguins are born with the ability to swim, the young one in the aquarium does not dare to dive into the pool and just stands fluttering its wings at the waterside.

One of the Polarland's animal trainers has tried to help by placing it directly into the water, but the bird frantically swam back to the bank the moment it was submerged.

Penguins do know how to swim, but they have to learn how to climb up ashore, according to Meng Lingbo, an animal trainer at the park. Most of them cannot control their direction and speed while swimming.
To help the young penguins gain more aquatic skills, their parents will cheer for them in the water and demonstrate proper form. If they take too long to make it back to the bank, trainers will rescue the birds to keep them from getting exhausted.

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Images of the Day

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