So, about two days before we were due to fly out of England, I got to meet with someone who I have known - through my artwork - for nearly 10 years. I've known her for so long that I was actually meant to meet with her six years ago, the first time we travelled to the UK, but I was just too exhausted and frazzled at the idea of meeting so many new people.
This time I marked it as a priority.
I apologise that there are not more photos of the penguins themselves. The truth of the matter is that most of the time was actually spent interacting with them, and not taking photos, because to get close and personal means risking all your belongings (they are, after all, wild animals). And that secondly I spent so much time just chatting happily with Zoe and I lost track of time and we spoke like we'd been old friends who had met over curious Humboldt penguins many, many times before.
And now about the Humboldt's themselves. (Any information I get wrong is due to my own dodgy memory and not Z). There's about 95 at Penguin Beach (the oldest building at ZSL London Zoo and Heritage listed), and all have names. Most are named after media figures, including drag queens like Courtney Act. London Zoo have also made some forays into being openly Pride supporting,
including having the banner 'Some Penguins are gay, get over it' among other things. Zoe is a big part of this. The penguins had their own say whether they wanted to meet us or not. There is a back entrance where they can come and see what's going on, or ignore us. They can self-determine whether they get any attention or not, and decide what sort of attention they like. They are all highly individualistic and it is hard not to compare them to cats after a while, in terms of their different natures, how they interact, and when I said this in some amazement to Zoe (framed as 'I can't believe I'm saying this but they sort of remind me of cats'), she said that it makes sense, given they're social animals with no strong sense of hierarchy, and that she thinks they can be very catlike as well.
We were visited by about 15 of the group, who were all *very* excited to see us (I was stepping over penguins that were clamouring around my feet to check us out). We were allowed to pet the ones that wanted to be petted (males preferred the chin and females preferred the belly, from memory, but it could be the other way around).
There were two 'naughty' ones - Gypsy and Charlie, who honestly I LOVED, but you couldn't put your hands near them, because they bit. Not maliciously, they just...I mean, they can literally only explore things with their beaks, unlike dogs or cats who also have paws, flippers and their tiny feet do not make good exploratory devices. And their beaks are strong, because penguins. Because they were the most curious, they also bit the most. All the penguins can potentially bite, but they are very clear with their boundaries. If they don't want attention, they walk away. If they want more attention, they come closer. I asked whether petting damaged the feathers, and Zoe explained that - unlike parrots - the penguins can self-direct the physical attention they receive, and as a result of that, their feathers are in good condition (though they were going through varying stages of moult while we were there).
Charlie screamed at me for not petting him, while he leaned against my jeans (I have photos of this), Tif was delighted when they started attacking her coat, and Glen had the time of his life. I have decided there is a particularly great feeling to having a penguin leaning heavily against your jeans, gazing up at you, while you chat with a senior zookeeper about life, the universe, how sadly little zookeepers make, how many reptiles Zoe owns, and how amazing the world can be at times.
For anyone curious, you can see more about Humboldts and Zoe here at
her Instagram account, the latest video includes some of the 2019 youngsters, who have yet to be named. (I know she wants to name one Groot, lol). She has a lot of lovely videos of her with the Humboldts, and earlier than that you can see her work with reptiles too.
Now onto the photos.
Meet Charlie. One of the 'naughty' Humboldts. Who watched me like this for a huge chunky of time, while leaning into me and pressing his flippers into my jeans.
You will notice his beak is a little skewed. A parent stepped on his egg before birth, and crushed it, and they rushed him to the Zoo veterinarian to save him, which they very much did. But as a result of the crushing, his beak is wry-billed, and he bites much harder than the rest of the penguins. One of the reasons he's so curious and 'naughty' in the first place is because he was entirely hand raised.

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