One of the local libraries had an educational program yesterday afternoon. The program was scheduled to begin at quarter to four but the penguin and her handler were late. Not to worry: Neatnik chatted up new friends and I knit a few rounds on my sock.
When the star of the show finally arrived, we got to learn about penguins. There are seventeen species of penguin world-wide and they all live south of the equator. Penguins have tiny little feathers and they are arranged in two layers, their eggs are about the size of an extra-large chicken egg, and the chicks reach their full growth at about three months of age.
The penguin of the hour was an African penguin. This penguin is a fourteen year old "married" female; though in the wild the average lifespan is ten years, some individuals in captivity have reached forty.
These are sometimes known as black-footed penguins, but this particular individual, while born with black feet, for some reason began to lose pigmentation in her feet and beak after a few years. Now they look like a turkey's skin to me.
I was seated towards the back since I didn't want to obstruct the view for any of the little ones. This close-up came out fairly well, if I do say so myself.
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7 yarns:
Those feet aren't what I expected ~ your library has great programs!
For some reason, I thought this was going to be about ferrets. ;)
That's awesome! Our library never does anything that cool! Great pics too!
You know, penguins are just cool. There's no denying it...
ILY,NG
But were they "Happy Feet"? Now I know more about penguins than I did just a few minutes ago. Typical that the males mature much more slowly. Guys!!
Poor guy. He doesn't look like it bothers him any.
I wonder if there is a Penguin-cam out there somewhere. I could watch penguins like I watch the pandas!!!
Those are really great pictures. You'd hardly know that you weren't right up front...
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