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Working with Penguins – a Highlight of this Zookeeper’s Experiences

Posted by: Frank Indiviglio in Bird Behavior, Bird Conservation, Bird Species Profiles, Field Notes and Observations on Birds, Fun Stuff, Wild Birds October 16, 2012 Comments Off on Working with Penguins – a Highlight of this Zookeeper’s Experiences 7452 Views

Frank Indiviglio with penguin

Penguins Win Me Over

I first became enamored of penguins at the Bronx Zoo’s old “Penguin House”. Twice a day, a door would open and a pail of fish would be tossed into the exhibit.  Fashioned like a giant aquarium, the exhibit allowed visitors to watch the penguins dive and grab their meals underwater.  Living near the zoo, I had long haunted its grounds and had racked up some great sightings of both captive and wild birds by an early age (nearly 300 native species have been recorded there) – but these creatures were something else indeed!  They were birds, to be sure, but departed so radically from the typical bird body-plan that I was driven to learn all I could.

Today, of course, penguins are well known, but for us bird fanciers they still retain a sense of mystery…more so as new facts about their amazing lifestyles come to light! 

Working with Penguins

I began working with penguins some 28 years ago, but the experience remains clearly etched in my memory. Named for the intrepid explorer Ferdinand Magellan, the Magellanic Penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) I cared for were housed in an outdoor exhibit at the Bronx Zoo.  The work was particularly enjoyable because, due the number of medications that the penguins needed (they lack defenses against diseases carried by native birds), they were trained to line up and accept fish tossed to them.  This assured accurate dosing, and, to be honest, was a great excuse to work closely with these most amusing birds.

I once helped hand-rear a young penguin that had been rejected by its parents.  All went well, but the bird lacked penguin social skills and consequently was attacked when reintroduced to the colony. Birds imprinted on people often experience difficulties…a hand-raised Great Horned Owl I cared for would try to feed mice to me during the breeding season! So the exiled penguin spent her days waddling around the basement of the Aquatic Bird House, following her keepers and growing evermore spoiled.

Fortunately, the Philadelphia Zoo had some hand-raised penguins, so I drove ours there to make the introduction. The bird made the trip standing on the front seat of the zoo’s van, and I laugh to this day remembering the reactions of gas station attendants along the way! Happily, the Philly birds accepted their big city cousin – but the return trip was quite boring!

Range

Penguins are restricted to the Southern Hemisphere, where they inhabit the coasts of Antarctica, New Zealand, southern Australia, southern Africa and southern South America.  None occur north of the equator (and so, despite popular opinion, they never cross paths with polar bears!) but in recent years 2 penguins turned up off Newfoundland…how they got there, no one knows.

Although generally perceived as birds of frigid habitats, a number occur in quite warm areas of South America and Africa. However, the Humboldt, Benguela and Agulhas Currents assure that cold water is readily accessible.

Another commonly-held stereotype is that all penguins nest on ice. Some do, but others utilize frozen grasslands, sub-tropical beaches, bare rock, lava, and even temperate forests.

Penguins reach their greatest species diversity not in Antarctica but rather in the sub-Antarctic waters off New Zealand and the Falkland Islands. The Antarctic coastline does, however, support the greatest number of individual penguins.

Dietary Specialists

Most penguins feed upon fishes, squid and shrimp.  Surprisingly, however, Adelie, Chinstrap, Macaroni and Gentoo Penguins subsist almost entirely upon krill.  Although barely 2 inches in length, these shrimp-like creatures may be the planet’s most numerous species – some 550 million tons of them are believed present in the Southern Pacific Ocean at any one time!

What’s Next, and What Can I Do?

Please post a comment here and share any zoo or wild penguin experiences you may have.  I’ll also be covering various species in detail in future articles, so don’t forget to let me know your favorites.

While working on an exhibit at Connecticut’s Maritime Aquarium recently, I had the good fortune of being able to get close to a group of Black-footed or African Penguins, Spheniscus demersus (please see photo).  This species, also known as the Jackass Penguin (due to its bray-like call), is the only penguin to nest in Africa.  Its breeding range stretches from the South Africa/Namibia border around the bottom of the continent to Port Elizabeth, South Africa.  Please look for my upcoming article on this fascinating bird. 

If you wish to learn what you can do to help wild penguins, check out the International Penguin Conservation Work Group.

 

 

Further Reading

Penguin Conservation and Current Research 

Working with Penguins: Volunteer Opportunities

Video: “Criminal Penguins”

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I believe that I was born with an intense interest in animals, as neither I nor any of my family can recall a time when I was not fascinated by creatures large and small. One might imagine this to be an unfortunate set of circumstances for a person born and raised in the Bronx, but, in actuality, quite the opposite was true. Most importantly, my family encouraged both my interest and the extensive menagerie that sprung from it. My mother and grandmother somehow found ways to cope with the skunks, flying squirrels, octopus, caimans and countless other odd creatures that routinely arrived un-announced at our front door. Assisting in hand-feeding hatchling praying mantises and in eradicating hoards of mosquitoes (I once thought I had discovered “fresh-water brine shrimp” and stocked my tanks with thousands of mosquito larvae!) became second nature to them. My mother went on to become a serious naturalist, and has helped thousands learn about wildlife in her 16 years as a volunteer at the Bronx Zoo. My grandfather actively conspired in my zoo-buildings efforts, regularly appearing with chipmunks, boa constrictors, turtles rescued from the Fulton Fish Market and, especially, unusual marine creatures. It was his passion for seahorses that led me to write a book about them years later. Thank you very much, for a complete biography of my experience click here.
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