Penguins at Edinburgh Zoo

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland was founded in 1909, and Edinburgh Zoo actually opened in 1913, on 82 acres of parkland on Corstorphine Hill. When I was young I didn't always like zoos so much because the animals were stuck in cages and looked miserable. When I visited Edinburgh Zoo, however, I got excited. There were several large, open enclosures for the different species, with ditches and moats to separate the animals from the visitors. They didn't seem miserable! And I loved the penguins!

Edinburgh Zoo is known throughout the world for its penguins. In January 1913 three King Penguins were brought to the zoo from the Christian Salvesen whaling expedition. The first successful hatching of a King Penguin chick occurred in 1919 and penguins have been breeding there ever since. Isn't that King Penguin chick ridiculous - he looks bigger than his parents with that huge fur coat!

Image of King Penguin family at Edinburgh Zoo from Wikimedia Commons.

King Penguins are the second largest species of penguin. The Emperor Penguin which can be as much as 4 feet (122 cm) tall and weighing in at 50 to 100 lbs (22 to 45 kg), is the largest. King Penguins are around 3 feet (90 cm) tall and weigh 25 to 35 lbs (11 to 16 kg). But the two look kind of similar.

King Penguins live in Antarctica, and have four layers of feathers to keep themselves warm - that sounds like a good plan! The outer layer feathers are waterproofed with oil. The chicks are born without the oily outer layer of feathers but have a brown-grey down which moults into a darker brown thick, woolly coat. The chicks have to stay on land until those fluffy brown feathers fall off, which takes about a year, so they look pretty big before they're ready to start swimming!

When they do swim, King Penguins are the best! They dive deeper than any other penguin, often over 700 feet (200 meters), and as much as 1000 feet (300 meters) on occasion. They generally stay submerged around 5 minutes, foraging for fish and squid.

The Gentoo Penguin is about 2 to 3 feet (55 to 90 cm) tall and is the next largest species after the Kings and Emperors. These penguins have a very obvious wide white stripe across the top of the head. They are pretty active, and are actually the fastest penguin swimmers.

Gentoo Penguins are known for their nests. Well they're birds right! But these nests, while circular like a normal kind of bird nest, are made of stones. Not just any stones either; they fight over the good ones! And apparently females can be courted by a male offering a good looking stone.

Rockhopper Penguins are so called because, unlike most other penguins which get around obstacles by sliding on their bellies, Rockhoppers try to jump over boulders - rock hopping - despite the fact that they are kind of little (less than 2 feet tall).

They are also well known because they have yellow crests. Actually, these are straight, bright yellow eyebrows that end in long plumes. To complete the rather wild look, they have red eyes!

The webcam is set to show the Gentoo Penguin area. There are no lights at night, so make sure you're watching during daylight hours if you want to see anything! Oh, and they're really fascinating, so be warned you may find you're spending more time than you expected just watching these penguins.

Sir Nils Olav is the most famous penguin at Edinburgh Zoo. He got his name from two people: Major Nils Egelien, who organized his adoption by Edinburgh Zoo, and King Olav of Norway. Since that time he has been the mascot of the Royal Norwegian Guard, and inspects them every time they visit Edinburgh for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. He has received many honors and promotions during his service.

Initially Nils Olav was given the rank of lance corporal; in 1982 he was made corporal; and in 1987 he was promoted to sergeant. The original Nils Olav died shortly after his promotion to sergeant, and his place was taken by Nils Olav II, a two-year-old penguin. (Yes, King Penguins do live a long time but not forever!) Nils Olav II was promoted to the rank of regimental sergeant major in 1993; and Honourable Regimental Sergeant Major in 2001.

Nils Olav Statue
from Wikimedia Commons.

In 2005 Edinburgh Zoo was presented with a four-foot tall bronze statue of Nils Olav.

In 2008 the penguin was actually knighted, becoming Sir Nils Olav! This great honor had to be approved by the King of Norway himself, King Harald V. They had a big ceremony of course!

Copyright © Jennifer P. Tanabe, 2009.
This page was created on October 23, 2009 and is the property of jptanabe (Jennifer P. Tanabe) and Squidoo, LLC. Please do not copy my material!