Best of the Zoo XI: Happy Feet

Posted by liaso (Bay Area, United States) on 18 December 2007 in Animal & Insect.

More penguins at the Edinburgh Zoo. It was a neat time of year to visit the penguins. As you can see in a couple of the pictures, some of the penguins had already laid eggs. Others were choosing mates (which is what I like to believe is happening in the top central picture). The zoo has a Penguin Parade, which is when they would let penguins walk a very closely monitored route through the adoring crowd. The zookeeper who announced the parade made sure to state it was voluntary for the penguins; we would only see a parade if they chose to come out and explore. On the day I went three males came out for a stroll. The zookeeper said that it was likely due to the fact they were still without a mate.

One of the reasons I did the collage was to show the different activities I saw the penguins partaking in. The other was to show off the different types of penguins at the zoo. The central top photo is of Rockhoppers. They were in a different enclosure than the rest of the penguins. The proud mamas in the right top corner and in the center, as well as the swimmers, are Gentoos. The "king of the world" poser on the bottom right is appropriately enough a King, as are the rest of his mates hanging out on the bottom of the collage.

(Thank you to Wiki for help identifying the different penguins.)