Penguins Rock

The last Zoo talk today, and I set off in a blizzard. JR's cold needed to be knocked on the head, so a day tucked up in bed was called for. Can't be ill in the holidays!

The speaker today was Chris West, the new CEO. I could have listened to him for ages - he had a lovely voice, deep and mellifluous. And he had no verbal tics that I find rather irritating - dropping his 'Ts' willy nilly, saying 'somethink' instead of 'something', saying 'I was sat there'.. Sorry, I was off on a wee rant there...

He gave us the talk he gave to Swedish veterinary or zoology students a couple of years ago, and began with the Galaxy Song from Monty Python. This was greeted with stony faces - they evidently thought he was mad...

I'd never heard the song before, not being a huge Monty Python fan, but it was really good way to start his talk, which was about 'Our Planet'. Basically, I'm very glad I won't be around in 2050, when the world's population will be about 10 billion (currently 7 billion) and there are no more fish in the sea, and many of the animals are extinct and the land masses have diminished because of rising oceans. Big Big Problems!

He told the story of the Easter Islanders, who chopped down their trees to make boats in order to go fishing. And when they had chopped down the last tree, and could no longer make boats to go fishing, their social structure disintegrated. I paraphrase slightly ...

After the talk I wandered off to see the new amazing penguin enclosure, called Penguins' Rock. (Or possibly, Penguins Rock). I was there for AGES. You can walk across a bridge and the penguins swim around in beautiful clear clean water, with waterfalls and an easy slope to get in and out. I wouldn't mind having a swim there - it can't be much colder than the Commie Pool. They were frolicking around like a pod of dolphins. I think they like it!

I was there at the same time as the keeper was doing a talk, and there is a enclosed space with huge windows to look out on the Gentoo nesting area. The Gentoos were looking in too, and came right up to the floor level windows and peered in.

The 'nests' were circles of concrete into which small pebbles were put. The males were so busy rushing back and forth to the pile of pebbles, bringing 'gifts' to the female. If she liked the pebble and accepted it in the nest, they'd do a 'hiss and bow' routine, then he'd toddle off to choose another nice pebble. So cute to watch. Funnily enough, it's not uncommon for same sex pairings, and they make good foster parents, as there are often two eggs and one chick doesn't get looked after properly.

I went round to another area to see the Rockhoppers. They were very curious about the humans too. There was a wooden fence about waist high, and the Rockies were all standing beside it looking up at the humans. Maybe it was nearing feeding time. I could have touched them! Almost.

The only trouble was, I hadn't brought my gloves, and I could hardly feel my fingers to hold the camera, let alone press the button. Luckily I just had my wee compact camera and had the strap firmly around my wrist in case I dropped it on Rocky's head. I chose this wee Rocky, with added SP in his eye.

I've really enjoyed my weekly visits to the Zoo and the talks, and will be signing up for the sessions next autumn. Wonder if there will be a baby panda by then...