It's Penguin Awareness Day!

Do YOU know where YOUR penguin is?!?

Maybe *your penguin* is at your favorite zoo/ aquarium... maybe *your penguin* is a wild Emperor Penguin in Antarctica... maybe *your penguin* is the only penguin in the wild that *does* occasionally cross in to the northern hemisphere...? (yep, one *can* do that, do you know which one? without googling?!? ;) ...if not, I promise to tell you later in this post!)

If you were a victim viewer of "March of the Penguins" you know how much the time of the year can impact daily life for a penguin, happily (for me, at least, who worries about these critters), Penguin Awareness Day falls one month after the longest day of the year in the southern hemisphere (where all penguins natively live), when those most southerly penguins, the Emperor Penguins, are starting their summer foraging!

So... it's a good time, for me ;) , to talk penguins...

This year, to celebrate Penguin Awareness Day, I'm going to share a few facts about penguins (including why penguin awareness is actually relevant to all of us) and a couple videos taken of one of *my* penguins, the Humboldt Penguins at Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle.

Meet the Humboldt Penguin!

This one seems to be on her/his lunchtime exercise routine!

...and I'm trying to find out what all of the hooting is about... I'll let you know when I do!

 In honor of Penguin Awareness Day Quest plans to post more penguin vids!


Humboldt Penguins (Spheniscus humboldti) are an endangered species, native to the Central Pacific coast of South America (Peru and Chile). Natively they live on rocky coastlines and tend to be about 15"-18"(37-45cm) tall and weigh about 9 lbs (4kg).
Woodland Park Zoo participates in the Species Survival Plan for the Humboldt Penguins and supports the Humboldt Penguin Preservation Project in Peru. Because of the extra protection and high quality of food, these penguins, which live about 20 years in the wild, *can* live up to 30 years in *healthy* zoo environments. They reach maturity from 2 to 7 years of age and are monogamous (choose one mate for life).
The female lays one or two eggs and both parents participate in incubating (keeping the egg/s warm) for the 40 days until hatching and both parents participate in raising the chick/s.


Penguin Awareness Day also helps to make us more aware of how even subtle changes to our earth's environment can massively impact life on earth: shorelines, icy habitats, and food resources. (more on this hopefully soon, i have to take this call!)



I didn't forget!
The answer to which wild penguin lives the farthest north - the Galapagos Penguin!

Cold ocean currents, called the Humboldt Current and the Cromwell Current, keep the waters around the Galapagos Islands cool and nutrient rich, which allows the Galapagos Penguin to be the most northerly penguin species, even sometimes found across the equator, in the northern hemisphere! (barely! ;) )