With a hop and a jump, it surprised us all

When I called in at the Calgary Zoo yesterday, this beautiful Gentoo Penguin suddenly jumped up on a rock above everyone and stood there looking down at us all. Despite the blue looking "sky", this was taken indoors.

The Zoo now has four species of Penguin in their brand new Penguin Plunge exhibit - Gentoo (23), King (8), Humboldt (10) and Rockhopper (5). They are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums penguin species survival plan.

The 46 penguins came from zoos in Quebec, Texas, New York and Washington states and Scotland. There are 8 King Penguins, 23 Gentoo Penguins, 10 Humboldt Penguins and 5 Rockhopper Penguins. The IUCN Red List states:

King Penguins - Least Concern
Humboldt Penguins - Vulnerable
Gentoo Penguins - Near Threatened
Rockhopper Penguins - Vulnerable

Current Impacts on the Gentoo population include climate variation, competition with fisheries, human disturbance, pollution.
Gentoos can hold their breath underwater for up to seven minutes. They usually search for food within 14 kilometres of home, but may travel up to twice that distance in a day.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentoo_Penguin

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