Find out why people are ‘obsessed’ with penguins at Hunstanton Sea Life Centre
Today is National Penguin Awareness Day and reporter Molly Nicholas has been to see the birds at the local aquarium.
There are currently 15 Humboldt penguins at Hunstanton’s Sea Life Sanctuary and Aquarium ranging from three up to 26 years old.
The youngest is Squirt who hatched in 2020 and one of the oldest is Burt who is turning 27 this year.
Penguin Awareness Day plays a big part for the Seagate Road centre as it is an opportunity to talk about the “beautiful species” which are so popular with visitors.
Sophie Negus, assistant curator at Hunstanton Sea Life Centre, said: “It is a fantastic day as it gives people like me an opportunity to shout about it which is great as we as a company do a vast amount of awareness, campaigns, education, and conservation.”
People are “obsessed” with penguins at the centre and get “excited because there is an area where visitors can come in and get a little bit closer as well as witness the free-flying Inca Tern birds.
Sophie said the centre gets a lot of people going back specifically to see the same penguin year after year.
“We have some people who have fallen in love with a particular bird,” Sophie said.
As a global company, Sea Life cares for thousands upon thousands of animals and over 4,000 species but Hunstanton also rescues, rehabilitates, and releases animals as well and puts them back into the wild.
Sophie added: “For penguins in particular there are so many beautiful species but they – especially Humboldts – can be greatly affected by a lot of factors.
“They can lose a huge per cent of their population very quickly due to environmental factors, but it is not just natural effects, there can be human factors.
“We know that Humboldt penguins in particular, especially when they are nesting, can react to the presence of a human from up to 150 metres away.”
A day in the life of a penguin keeper at Hunstanton’s Sea Life Centre is usually quite busy and they are hands-on making sure the Homboldts are fed a minimum of three times a day. The birds also need regular health checks.
The keepers ensure the penguins are happy, healthy and well cared for as well as eating properly and having all their vitamins. They also have to clean out the enclosure as they do poo a lot!
Each penguin has its own unique character. For example, nine-year-old Beau is a “real sweetheart” and has a different feather pattern on his head than the others. He is “really quiet and he will always give you a gentle nibble if he would like a fish”.
Then there is Barnacles, six, who is the “world’s biggest flirt”. He will interact with as many people as he can and is a “real social bird”.
But some penguins are shy. For example, Burt, who is one of the oldest birds turning 27 years old this year, is a “very reserved gentleman”. “He is quite happy talking to the keepers but not particularly interested in anyone else or even some of the other birds”.
Sophie said: “All the birds are very different personalities which is really nice because we have worked with them for so long so we know them like our kids really.”
She added: “We can actually see the physical difference in them. They all have different spots on their bellies and its like a finger print.
“They also have different colour eyes as well. For example Squirt has quite a brown/hazel colour and has a different face shape to the others.”
Sophie said she does not think visitors realise how different the penguins look to those who know them, but the centre uses coloured bands so the public can tell them apart.
The species at the Sea Life Centre in Hunstanton come from the coast of South America around Chile and Peru.
Guano harvesting is quite a big problem that can affect the penguins there as it is just poo to the penguins and is used by them as building material to make their nests, but for humans, it is a “fantastic fertiliser and it can get farmed quite a lot which can destroy nests and scare the population”.
Sophie said: “We always want to create awareness, always want to educate and spread these messages.
“There are so many things that can cause them a negative experience and we want to make sure that we are all aware of that. If we can do something then amazing, and if not we have learned and knowledge is power.”