Opinion
by MariaVirto
by MariaVirto
To celebrate Love Your Zoo Week, from May 23 to 29, Mario Virto was invited to Chessington World of Adventures Resort to meet the bird keepers and precious Humboldt penguins
Paul Elliker
I was reading my emails when, suddenly, my heart skipped a beat, I
could hardly breathe and only my eyes seemed to be able to move,
scanning the same line over and over again. ‘Would you like to be a zoo keeper and look after penguins for a morning?’ a message from Chessington World of Adventures Resort read. Was this a rhetorical question? Who wouldn’t?
I arranged my visit as soon as possible and the excitement of the weeks leading up to it was only comparable to that of a child on Christmas Eve.
The day finally arrived and my partner, and fellow penguin fan, Paul and I were welcomed by bird keeper Nick Tulley, who could not have been a better instructor. There is nothing about penguins that Nick does not know, and more than just reciting his credentials, he shared his advice for those who would like to follow in his footsteps for what must be one of the loveliest professions.
Nick studied for a national diploma in animal management and then undertook work experience and volunteering. Seven years later he was working at Chessington and achieving great things through hard graft, but also being rewarded by the amazing creatures he looked after. He was proud of the special bond he had with a blue and gold macaw, an intelligent but very discerning species. Similarly, Chessington has a hornbill that is very friendly with him but sees all women as the enemy – luckily we were sticking with the penguins.
Rewarding though it is, being a zoo keeper has its drawbacks with regard to conservation, and Nick felt both lucky and sad that 50% of the UK population of blue face honey eaters is at Chessington.
The penguin species at the zoo is Humboldt, with Peruvian and Chilean names. At the time of my visit there were 23 birds, mostly in the main enclosure, plus five in quarantine. Of the 17 species of penguins only four live in cold climates – the Humboldt come from deserts.
One can’t help humanising the animals when you find out we share so many traits. They all have different personalities; one is timid, another fancies himself as the lad and, jokingly, Nick says all the rest are evil. I can testify that they are adorable and just a bit cheeky, especially the one that very casually tries to pass himself for a human to go for a wander round the zoo.
Yet, these birds have their own features, like the fact that the best way to identify a penguin is to look at the markings on their belly – I had always wondered how you could tell them apart. Penguins need salt tablets – like all salt water fish eaters. If you see them doing something that looks like a sneeze, it is because they are getting rid off the excess salt.
They also need medication as they are susceptible to malaria in this country. The medication is placed inside the gills of the fish they eat. It is messy to prepare but it must be done.
Surprisingly, penguins have a varied fish diet and the birds at Chessington consume 9.5kg of fish between them. The staple is sprat but they also eat anything from mackerel to squid. Caplin is to penguins what chocolate is to humans, and the keepers must ensure they leave it until last or the birds will not want the rest of their food.
Paul and I were fortunate to visit during breeding season, which meant we were not able to clean the nests. As well as being protective of their brood, penguins use their excretions as building materials for their homes. It is very effective because of its strength, and also because the stench keeps predators away. We were told by Nick that a casual worker had once almost fainted when first faced with the task of cleaning out a nest.
The Humboldts at Chessington are a breeding success story and it is lovely to see how their nests peppered the enclosure, although they are not very visible to the untrained eye. When you look into the enclosure from the viewing platform, you will see lovely bits of vegetation, and it is mainly here, buried beneath the shrubbery that they hide their precious homes.
Nick confirmed that penguins pair for life and also had formed some kind of hierarchy, especially when feeding. I was warned about how appearances can be deceiving. I thought they were being flirty but gestures of tilted heads actually reveal aggression. I was strongly advised not to try to stroke them despite finding them irresistibly cuddly. A Humboldt’s bite is one of the worst you can receive from a bird as they have a serrated and very powerful beak that they can use as pliers to grab and twist off chunks of your fingers. Once I recovered from that shock I was still able to enjoy feeding them, which was not different from feeding ducks – although you have to make sure you give them the fish head first or they can choke.
Penguins are confident and daring little creatures, and several came right up to me to be ‘spoon fed’. They are also amazingly fast in water and will not let their food sink.
Another sign that they were content in their Chessington home is that they are having no problems displaying their amorous nature, and unlike in the wild, they are able to breed both chicks as they obviously have plenty of food. They only get grumpy twice a year when they are shedding their feathers. You can tell the time has arrived when their usual black plumage takes on a brown tinge.
Keepers must keep a close eye on these tough little creatures because another mechanism of their defence is that they do not show any signs of illness until it is too late, which in the wild helps them disguise their weakness from predators.
The life of a zoo keeper is interesting yet demanding. The great conditions that the animals are kept in is testament to their hard work and care.
I had my reservations about zoos, but while some people keep making it difficult for animals to live in the wild, these homes in our neighbourhoods are the best chance for the rest of us to enjoy and get to know these amazing creatures.
source
I arranged my visit as soon as possible and the excitement of the weeks leading up to it was only comparable to that of a child on Christmas Eve.
The day finally arrived and my partner, and fellow penguin fan, Paul and I were welcomed by bird keeper Nick Tulley, who could not have been a better instructor. There is nothing about penguins that Nick does not know, and more than just reciting his credentials, he shared his advice for those who would like to follow in his footsteps for what must be one of the loveliest professions.
Nick studied for a national diploma in animal management and then undertook work experience and volunteering. Seven years later he was working at Chessington and achieving great things through hard graft, but also being rewarded by the amazing creatures he looked after. He was proud of the special bond he had with a blue and gold macaw, an intelligent but very discerning species. Similarly, Chessington has a hornbill that is very friendly with him but sees all women as the enemy – luckily we were sticking with the penguins.
Rewarding though it is, being a zoo keeper has its drawbacks with regard to conservation, and Nick felt both lucky and sad that 50% of the UK population of blue face honey eaters is at Chessington.
The penguin species at the zoo is Humboldt, with Peruvian and Chilean names. At the time of my visit there were 23 birds, mostly in the main enclosure, plus five in quarantine. Of the 17 species of penguins only four live in cold climates – the Humboldt come from deserts.
One can’t help humanising the animals when you find out we share so many traits. They all have different personalities; one is timid, another fancies himself as the lad and, jokingly, Nick says all the rest are evil. I can testify that they are adorable and just a bit cheeky, especially the one that very casually tries to pass himself for a human to go for a wander round the zoo.
Yet, these birds have their own features, like the fact that the best way to identify a penguin is to look at the markings on their belly – I had always wondered how you could tell them apart. Penguins need salt tablets – like all salt water fish eaters. If you see them doing something that looks like a sneeze, it is because they are getting rid off the excess salt.
They also need medication as they are susceptible to malaria in this country. The medication is placed inside the gills of the fish they eat. It is messy to prepare but it must be done.
Surprisingly, penguins have a varied fish diet and the birds at Chessington consume 9.5kg of fish between them. The staple is sprat but they also eat anything from mackerel to squid. Caplin is to penguins what chocolate is to humans, and the keepers must ensure they leave it until last or the birds will not want the rest of their food.
Paul and I were fortunate to visit during breeding season, which meant we were not able to clean the nests. As well as being protective of their brood, penguins use their excretions as building materials for their homes. It is very effective because of its strength, and also because the stench keeps predators away. We were told by Nick that a casual worker had once almost fainted when first faced with the task of cleaning out a nest.
The Humboldts at Chessington are a breeding success story and it is lovely to see how their nests peppered the enclosure, although they are not very visible to the untrained eye. When you look into the enclosure from the viewing platform, you will see lovely bits of vegetation, and it is mainly here, buried beneath the shrubbery that they hide their precious homes.
Nick confirmed that penguins pair for life and also had formed some kind of hierarchy, especially when feeding. I was warned about how appearances can be deceiving. I thought they were being flirty but gestures of tilted heads actually reveal aggression. I was strongly advised not to try to stroke them despite finding them irresistibly cuddly. A Humboldt’s bite is one of the worst you can receive from a bird as they have a serrated and very powerful beak that they can use as pliers to grab and twist off chunks of your fingers. Once I recovered from that shock I was still able to enjoy feeding them, which was not different from feeding ducks – although you have to make sure you give them the fish head first or they can choke.
Penguins are confident and daring little creatures, and several came right up to me to be ‘spoon fed’. They are also amazingly fast in water and will not let their food sink.
Another sign that they were content in their Chessington home is that they are having no problems displaying their amorous nature, and unlike in the wild, they are able to breed both chicks as they obviously have plenty of food. They only get grumpy twice a year when they are shedding their feathers. You can tell the time has arrived when their usual black plumage takes on a brown tinge.
Keepers must keep a close eye on these tough little creatures because another mechanism of their defence is that they do not show any signs of illness until it is too late, which in the wild helps them disguise their weakness from predators.
The life of a zoo keeper is interesting yet demanding. The great conditions that the animals are kept in is testament to their hard work and care.
I had my reservations about zoos, but while some people keep making it difficult for animals to live in the wild, these homes in our neighbourhoods are the best chance for the rest of us to enjoy and get to know these amazing creatures.
source
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