Renegade Penguin Breaks Loose!

Published on Thursday, 17 May 2012 14:30

Marie

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We are rooting for the penguin in Tokyo who climbed a 13 foot wall and barbed wire to escape from the Tokyo zoo to the waters of Tokyo Bay, where he seems to be doing just fine.  

Penguin 337 (catchy name) is a Humboldt penguin, and he is far from his his native waters off the coast of Chile and Peru, where most of the world’s 12,000 pair of breeding Humboldts live. Most people know that penguins live in Antarctica, but fewer know that there are penguins as far north as the Galapagos Islands, right on the equator. In fact, you can snorkel with Galapagos penguins when you visit the Galapagos Islands.

Even though the Islands are on the equator, the waters surrounding the Galapagos are fairly cold – cold enough for the Galapagos penguin, at least. 

For people who want to see (and hear!) these funny, flightless birds in large numbers, nothing beats a trip to Antarctica.  Here you will see many species of penguins, including the majestic Emperor penguin, the largest penguin on the planet.  In fact, some of our Antarctica cruises focus specifically on visiting Emperor penguin colonies, like those on Snow Hill Island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula in the Weddell Sea. 

You won’t see Humboldt penguins on an Antarctica cruise.  But you are likely to see King penguins, like those pictured here, or Gentoos, or Chinstraps…

To read about the renegade penguin that got away from the Tokyo Zoo, click here.  To learn more about International Wildlife Adventures Antarctica cruises, click here