Edinburgh Zoo's Penguins

We went to the Edinburgh Zoo today. Yes, to the zoo, even though it was about 5 degrees outside. (I have no idea what that means in Fahrenheit.) But the zoo was lovely with the snow. Several animals were (rightly) tucked inside their shelters, but not the zoo's signature animal: the penguin.

The zoo itself is rather young: opened in only 1917. It isn't very big and so a decision was made at some point to focus on endangered species, rather than a menagerie of creatures--hence no giraffes or elephants.
Apparently, it is also Scotland's second most tourist attraction, after Edinburgh Castle.

The best part of the zoo is its penguins. They have more than 210! The majority are the gentoo (the typical black and white ones), but they have 10 king penguins--distinguishable by the yellow on their chests and heads, though they are about 20 cm shorter than the emperor penguins, and the rockhoppers--the smaller ones with fluffy. yellow eyebrows.




The exhibit itself is quite something: you have plenty of ways to see the penguins swimming, resting, walking, diving, underwater, and at eye level.

And of course at 2:15 pm every day, there is the Penguin Parade! Every day at the appointed time, the keepers open a gate and see how many penguins are going out for a walk. Sometimes it is the whole lot of them, and sometimes it is only one.

We had all ten king penguins parading today. It was quite something. They waddled and called their way down the path, from the one door to the other. Some even stopped to pose for photos.

Bringing up the rear of the parade was Sir Nils Olav, the honorary colonel-in-chief of the Kings Guard in the Norwegian army. He is this particular unit's mascot. He started off as a corporal and when the Norwegian army would visit for the Military Tattoo in August every few years, Nils would be promoted. In 2008, he was knighted-- the only knight in Norway! The zoo itself has a long history with Norway as that country was the first to present the zoo with the gift of king penguins.

Sir Nils was kind enough to pose with Will after the parade, but no autographs, as that would be undignified.