STAFF and visitors at a popular wildlife park are celebrating Penguin Awareness Day with the creatures themselves.
Birdland, Park and Gardens, in Bourton-on-the-Water, is marking the day with a host of fun activities.
Guests can watch the park's colony of King Penguins and Humboldts enjoy their nutritious fish lunch from 2.30pm, before entering a competition to win the chance to feed the birds themselves.
Then, they can visit the three Humboldt chicks who are the newest penguins to be hand-reared at Birdland.
Head keeper Alistair Keen said: "Penguin Awareness Day is a great opportunity for the Keepers at Birdland to demonstrate what amazing creatures King Penguins and Humboldts are.
"Visitors can learn interesting and little-known facts about the colony at Penguin Shore as well as experience life as a Penguin Keeper.
"At Birdland we are part of the EEP, European Endangered Species Programmes, and I sit on the King Penguin Committee.
"We are committed to increasing the numbers and health of the endangered avian species."
Top Five King Penguin Facts
• The King penguin is the second largest penguin in the World. They are about three feet tall and weigh up to 35lbs.
• King penguins enjoy a game of football.
• In the wild they are found on sub-Antarctic islands including Crozet, Prince Edward, Kerguelen, South Georgia and Mazquarie Islands.
• King penguins hatch only one chick at a time. Their chicks have fuzzy brown feathers for about a year after they are born
• With up to 18 months of rearing, King Penguin chicks are the slowest chicks to reach independence of any bird!
Top Five Humboldt Penguin Facts
- Humboldt Penguins are from warmer climates, along the coast of Chile and Peru.
• They are incredibly acrobatic! The rocky habitat has made them excellent climbers and they can jump with both legs balancing themselves with the help of their flippers.
• While hunting, they can stay underwater for up to two minutes.
• Humboldt penguins can have up to two incubation periods in one year, laying from two eggs each time.
• Humboldts, whilst looking after their offspring, call to each other with a braying sound, like a donkey.
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