Meet Charlotte: The king penguin who is afraid of water

MOST penguins like nothing more than swirling and tumbling through the sea… but not Charlotte. 

 

By Selina Sykes

 

PUBLISHED: 2Sun, Jul 12, 2015

 

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Charlotte is not fond of swimming. The young bird is happy to keep her feathers dry. She is so terrified of getting in the pool with the rest of her colony that she is proving a major headache for keepers at a bird sanctuary.

 

The aquaphobic king penguin was hatched at Birdland in Bourton-on-the-Water, Glos, where she has been handreared by head keeper Alistair Keen. But when Charlotte, Britain’s only king penguin chick, was reluctant to take the plunge, Alistair tried to give her a swimming lesson. He donned a snorkel and mask. But Charlotte was having none of it.

 

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Despite her keeper's keen efforts, Charlotte refuses to swim

 

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Charlotte is the only king penguin chick in the UK

I know penguins can’t fly but she was making a pretty good attempt in her bid to avoid taking the plunge

Alistair Keen, head keeper

She turned and ran. Alistair said: “I know penguins can’t fly but she was making a pretty good attempt in her bid to avoid taking the plunge.

In the wild the chicks only learn to swim by following their parents into the water so, as her adopted dad, I felt obliged to show her how it was done. She certainly hasn’t taken to it like a duck to water.”

However, the keepers are persevering and slowly Charlotte seems to be coming round to the idea of swimming.

Birdland is the only place in England to breed king penguins and Charlotte is the first chick successfully reared there in seven years and the fi rst female chick to be born in nine years

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