World Penguin Day

Thousands of animal tailcoats in the middle of Vienna

Penguins live under extreme conditions and achieve feats of adaptation that we humans can only dream of - both on land and in the water.

(Bild: Corbis)

World Penguin Day has been held on April 25 every year since 2008. It is intended to draw attention to the fact that these flightless seabirds are threatened with extinction despite their presence and presentation as cute sea creatures. We have collected interesting facts about the tailcoats and visited a place in Vienna where thousands of penguins are close enough to touch.

Whether as the eponymous villain in the Batman comics, as the former advertising medium for Austrian advertising Joe & Sally, animated screen tap dancing talent Happy Feet or as Tux, the mascot of Linux: penguins are popular and ubiquitous.

Attention creative penguin lovers!
Sabine Berchtold has already "hatched" thousands of penguins. In large groups, they look curiously at visitors to her ceramics studio. In addition to the cheeky birds, cows and polar bears also complete the clay "zoo" in Vienna-Alsergrund. Anyone who would like to own their own personal specimen can create one with a little skill at a ceramics workshop. Sabine Berchtold passes on her knowledge and enthusiasm in her Penguinfactory.

Sabine Berchtold: "I see myself as an ambassador for the penguin world, which is very fascinating."

(Bild: Sabina Berchtold, Krone KREATIV)

Sabine Berchtold's ceramic penguins are very expressive and look alive.

(Bild: Penguinfactory)

A threatened world
In nature, however, the situation of the black and white seabirds is not so rosy. More and more penguin species are suffering from climate change, the destruction of their habitats and overfishing of the oceans. To draw attention to the alarming situation of the friendly tailcoats, the international World Penguin Day has been celebrated on April 25 since 2008.

Vorhang auf für den „coolsten Oberkellner“

Neun interessante und teilweise lustige Fakten:

• World Penguin Day marks the migration of emperor penguins in the Antarctic to their breeding grounds in the north. Scientists at the American McMurdo Station had observed that the animals return to their breeding colony on land after many months at sea - reliably to the same spot every year on April 25.

• There are 18 different species of penguins, which can grow between 30 centimetres and over a meter in size. They live in Antarctica, Australia, South America, New Zealand, South Africa and on the Galapagos Islands - and are perfectly adapted to their habitat.

• Penguins are considered monogamous and loyal. Males in love give the female a pebble as a sign of their bond - most species then stay together for life. And it is estimated that one in five penguins is homosexual.

• Animal kindergarten: When the young are a few weeks old, the penguins form a group and wait together while their parents are out foraging for food.

• Penguins live on extra cold feet - so that the ice underneath does not melt and they do not freeze. A layer of fat under their skin also protects their vital organs. Their plumage is a special heat reservoir: the short feathers keep them warmer than any thick down jacket.

• Their black and white coloring protects them from attacks in the water: From below, enemies that dive deeper have difficulty seeing the penguins with their white belly against the sky. And from above, their dark backs blur with the depths of the sea.

• Penguins sometimes travel 100 kilometers in the water while hunting. When they spot a school of fish, they swim straight into it and set hooks. They devour all the animals they catch. A king penguin can eat around 15 kilograms of fish during a successful fishing trip or collect them to feed its young.

• The emperor penguin is not only the largest and heaviest of its kind, but also the fastest. It reaches a maximum speed of 15 kilometers per hour in the water. It can also stay under water for up to 18 minutes and dive to depths of up to 500 meters while hunting. All species have one thing in common: they are excellent swimmers.
• Sweaters for penguins: In the event of an oil spill, zookeepers put knitted "life jackets" on the feathered seabirds before cleaning and caring for them extensively. This prevents the penguins from cleaning the smeared plumage themselves and poisoning themselves with ingested oil.

Rockhopper penguins: The youngest offspring at Schönbrunn Zoo hatched on March 31, 24.

(Bild: DANIEL ZUPANC)

Incidentally, Schönbrunn Zoo has been reporting a record number of births among the three penguin species living at Vienna Zoo for years: rockhopper, king and Humboldt penguins. The youngest offspring of the rockhopper penguins is just under a month old. Optimal conditions in the facility, a suitable breeding group and an experienced team of keepers are the basis for this success. A visit to the Polarium at Schönbrunn Zoo is always worthwhile for penguin fans - and not just on World Penguin Day.