I asked for the herring. FFS (Picture: Chessington World of Adventures)
The fussy young Humboldt penguins at Chessington World of Adventures are driving their zookeepers to despair.
Keepers have noticed the toddler penguins have p-p-picked up some fussy eating habits, much like their human counterparts.
Some of the younger penguins at Chessington’s Penguin Bay
have been spotted playing with their food, demanding their food is
served in a particular way, and only wanting the sweeter dishes on the
menu.
Divas much? What part of ‘medium rare’ don’t you understand? (Picture: Chessington World of Adventures)
Instead of everyday sprat, they’re demanding choicer fish cuts
including herring, smelt and mackerel. And some birds are turning their
beaks up at anything that isn’t capelin – a fish that is the penguin
equivalent of chocolate, apparently.
Most of the penguins insist on being hand-fed, rather than eating off
the ground. Well, penguins have to have standards, you know. Let’s check out the restaurant next door (Picture: Chessington World of Adventures)
Nick Tulley, penguin keeper at Chessington World of Adventures Resort
said: ‘Mealtimes at Penguin Bay can be quite tricky, as we definitely
have some diva penguins on our hands. Out of the 23 penguins in our
care, at least half of them will refuse to eat their sprat if there is
anything tastier at the bottom of the bucket.
‘As with toddlers, we have learnt that we need to be a bit sneaky,
making sure they eat their main before they get dessert. We also change
it up a bit on a daily basis, offering them a mix of fish to include
mackerel, which is very high in protein and oil-rich herring, which
maintains the penguins’ fat reserves.’ It’s a tough crowd (Picture: Chessington World of Adventures)
Nick adds: ‘We’re also slowly working on getting them to feed on
their own and not by hand, although this is something they are not yet
ready to compromise on!’
The Penguin Camera is located on Torgersen Island (64°46’S, 64°04’W), off the coast of Anvers Island and less than a mile from Palmer Station. Torgersen Island is home to a colony of Adélie penguins numbering approximately 2,500. This camera is seasonal and operates primarily from October to February, the Adélie breeding season. The camera is solar-powered and may sometimes experience brief outages due to inclement weather. School classrooms and other educational demonstrations will often take control of the camera, moving it to gain better views of the colony.
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