Latest news with #KingPenguin
BBC News
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
March of the Penguin Madness: Which penguin will win in 2025?
If you're a fan of unusual animal competitions (we're looking at you Fat Bear Week!) then look no of the Penguin Madness (MOTPM) is taking place this month, and is an international celebration of our feathered friends organised by animal charity Penguins year as part of the celebrations a competition called The Peng-Win Championships takes place, where penguins from zoos and wildlife parks around the world compete to be crowned the world's best year 48 penguins from 12 different species have been nominated by their keepers, where they'll battle it out online in a public vote, before the winner is announced on 18 April. Aside from the glory of winning, the victorious penguin will be immortalised in the Iceberg Hall of Heroes, earning the esteemed title of Global Penguin Ambassador, and may receive a crown and a fishy feast worthy of a global a penguin is knocked out of the Peng-Win Championships they can still compete in the charity's other competition, the Species Spirit Awards, which aims to celebrate and recognise one of the world's 18 species of Propp, the Chief Operations Officer at Penguins International, said: "We want to highlight penguins in zoos and aquariums that serve as ambassadors to their species."Wild penguins continue to face numerous threats, as demonstrated by the uplisting of African Penguins from 'Endangered' to 'Critically Endangered' last October." Meet the nominees Of the 48 contestants, six are from the include:Brian - a Gentoo Penguin from The Deep in - a Humboldt Penguin from Birdworld, in - a Humboldt Penguin from ZSL London - a Northern Rockhopper Penguin from Edinburgh Zoo, in - a King Penguin from Birdland, in - an African penguin from Birdworld in the UK penguins will face tough competition from superstar Pesto, the King Penguin from SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium, in Australia, who went viral last year for his large fluffy competitors include Meatloaf the Little Penguin, from Birch Aquarium, in San Diego in the US, and Floppy the Gentoo Penguin from Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium, in Pennsylvania in the US.
BBC News
18-02-2025
- General
- BBC News
Two female king penguins join Bourton-on-the Water wildlife park
A wildlife park has welcomed two new females to its colony of king penguins in a bid to boost its breeding females, who have yet to be named, arrived at Birdland Park and Gardens in Bourton-on-the-Water in the Cotswolds last pair hatched in Wuppertal, Germany, in 2021 and 2023 and are believed to be the first female king penguins to be imported to the UK in 15 years. Staff learned in December that a supposed female called Maggie, who joined the park eight years ago, was in fact a male who has since been renamed Magnus. The discovery meant that for many years the park has had just one female, named the latest additions to the park arrived, Bill was also the only female King Penguin in the is 10 years older than she would live to in the wild. Head keeper Alistair Keen said: "We've not had a [king penguin] egg at Birdland for three years, and we've had no breeding success for nearly a decade now. "The fact we now have two young females who could potentially be breeding for another 10 to 15 years is absolutely massive for us and the breeding programme across Europe." The new penguins have joined the park as part of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria Ex-situ programme aims to ensure a healthy and viable captive population of more than 500 endangered and threatened species is maintained in the long term."There was so much paper work to complete - jumping through various hoops and making phone calls and emails at all times of day," Mr Keen said. "It was a day-and-a-half for them to travel by road from Germany but they are feeding great, they are looking great so we just can't wait to get them out and meeting the boys." The pair will now go through a period of quarantine before they join the rest of the colony.
