We have one young male who has a cheeky technique for stealing pebbles from another nest. He finds a lone female on a nest, bow hisses to her and while she thinks he's being nice and she bow hisses back he very politely pinches a pebble!! They are so interesting to watch and we find out more about their behaviour every year.
Hi Kells,
We are lucky to work with the penguins and they certainly keep you cheerful. They aren't really that tame, they are just used to us being in the enclosure but they can be pretty mean under certain circumstances: defending their nests, fighting with each other and if we have to catch them for any reason they are unbelievably strong. They can peck you, flipper you and scratch with their toe-nails! I have a massive bruise on my leg I received trying to break up a fight between two rival pairs fighting over a nest and bruises on a penguin keeper are a regular sight. The one time they are well behaved is when they are being fed! Still love them though!! Hope you enjoy seeing them in August.
Hi Carol,
hopefully you might see some after May though when they first hatch they are only 70-100g in weight and mostly stay under mum and dad. It doesn't take long for them to get big enough to start getting adventurous though and we can be shepherding them back to their nest quite often!
Dear Penguin-Keeper, you have the BEST job in the world! I am addicted to this live camera link - penguins can never fail to cheer to you up and make you smile. I am coming to Edinburgh in August especially to come to your zoo and see these little popets!! Are many of them tame towards you or do they just bite your heels for fish every day?! Keep up the great work looking after these special little guys!x
Hi Carol,
the gentoos just sit on their eggs on their nest and the males and females both take on the incubation duties between them. They will normally have 2 eggs and the incubation period is 36 days. Our king penguins have 1 egg and incubate it on their feet like the emperor penguins and have to incubate it for 56 days. They lay later on in the year around June.
have not really kept up !!! slap my hands.... oh what a laugh, watching these funny little souls in the nest rings, and the "keeper" updates are funny too xx nest hopping hey!! nature stays true then lol that just made me laugh, help yourself from the bucket. I think the lass is talking to them , nice xxxx
2.45p.m. Just watched the penguins (including Snowflake) being fed. They are so cute! When gentoos lay their eggs do they incubate them by sitting on them in the pods, or do they put them on their feet like Emperor penguins do? Also, how many eggs do they lay?
2.45p.m. Just watched the penguins (including Snowflake) being fed. They are so cute! When gentoos lay their eggs do they incubate them by sitting on them in the pods, or do they put them on their feet like Emperor penguins do? Also, how many eggs do they lay?
Hi Mark
we have a large supply of differently sized pebbles that we have bought in over the years for the penguins that we store at the enclosure and then put out near the nest site in different piles for the penguins to help themselves. There are also loose pebbles around the enclosure throughout the year that they can also use but these are mostly larger and they prefer smaller pebbles generally. Some will go to the opposite end of the enclosure or to the bottom of the pool to get just the right pebble.
Regular visitors might have noticed the paler gentoo penguin on the screen, he will be more visible now as he nests almost right in the middle of the nest rings that you can see on the screen. He returns to the same nest every year with the same female partner. This doesn't mean he is completely faithful though as researchers have seen him visit other females on other nests as do many of the males and sometimes the females do this too.
I think that is a large rock that sits near the end of the row of nest rings that you can see on the screen. There are quite a few more rocks in the parts of the enclosure that you can't see on the webcam as the enclosure goes away past the bridge that you can see over the pool. During the breeding season you might see one of the gentoos sitting on top of the rock. It might be one of the birds that has a nest nearby, having a break. Or it might be a bird that would like to be nesting nearby and is jealously watching the other birds! There are also a row of large rocks forming part of the enclosure perimeter to the extreme right of the webcam image.
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA 28.02.2010. 10:30amEST
Great to see the nesting rings back. I really enjoy watching these cute little things. Very relaxing to do so. Now we really have some fun watching them. What is the dark object sitting near the right side of the screen?
Yes they are at the moment. On 28th February watch out for the keepers putting down the nest rings in this area for the gentoo penguins. Even while we are still doing this the penguins usually already start gathering pebbles to put in their nests. During the winter while the nest rings are away, many of the older gentoos make "winter" nests at the other end of the enclosure and some even stay there during the actual breeding season and one chick was reared there last year. The eggs will hopefully begin to arrive from the beginning of April and the chicks 36 days later!
From the cute and cuddly to farmyard friends and close encounters of a crawly kind, all the animals you meet, groom and hold at Crealy love people especially children and can't wait to meet you!
penguinkeeper
