Penguin Love

The Binghamton Zoo is home to seven African black-footed penguins; six males and one female. This species of penguin is found along rocky beaches in Southern Africa. They are not the emperor penguins typically seen in movies, and they do not like the snow and ice.

Penguins are fascinating for a variety of reasons. Everyone knows that penguins are flightless birds, but did you also know that they have unique molting patterns? Most birds molt once a year: they lose and regrow one feather at a time so that they are always able to fly and are never vulnerable to predators. Penguins, on the other hand, molt all of their feathers at once. Remember when you were little and your adult teeth grew in and forced your baby teeth to fall out? Penguin molting is very similar. New feathers grow in under the old feathers, causing the penguins to look fluffy and disheveled. Then the old feathers fall out in a downy explosion! While the penguins are molting, they are not waterproof and cannot swim. In the wild, this means they also cannot fish; penguins bulk up before molting to compensate for not eating during the week-long molting process.

African black-footed penguins also have interesting social structures. The penguins within a colony form a hierarchy: the dominant penguins eat first and get first choice of nests and mates. African black-footed penguins are very territorial and make a "jackass" call to defend their territories, especially when they are first introduced to new colony members.

Many zoo-goers race to the penguin exhibit when they enter the Binghamton Zoo. Every day, I hear adults and children exclaim that penguins are their favorite animals, and I have to explain that penguins do not make good pets because they are not as cute and cuddly as they look. With one exception. Ronde, a three-year old male penguin at the Binghamton Zoo, has bonded more with the keepers than with the other penguins. Ronde was partially hand-raised and is at the bottom of the penguin hierarchy, so he seeks companionship with the keepers. Ronde builds stone nests for me during breeding season and offers me fish. He will even lure me towards his nest and crouch into a mating position! He loves being touched and will often climb into my lap when I'm not looking. Ideally, when we introduce more females into the colony, Ronde will choose a penguin mate and forget about his human love interests. But until then, cuddling with Ronde is one of the best parts of my job.