Comments on: African penguin Plumage: Belly Spots

By: pschaller

pschaller — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:30:39 +0000

Hi Yuli, The foot spots are seen in all African penguins. Yes, they are different in all of the African penguins here.

By: Yuli

Yuli — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:17:54 +0000

That’s so interesting! As I was looking at the photo, I noticed the spotted feet… Are those an all-species thing, or what is their cause? Also, are they different in all penguins, like freckles, perhaps?

By: pschaller

pschaller — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:33:19 +0000

Jean, Penguin Feedings are at 10:30 and 3:30, glad you could join us. Watching the clean is funny, we always have to allow extra time to get our jobs done because they are under our feet or grabbing the hose and brushes.

By: jean

jean — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 01:34:40 +0000

Are there plans to post feeding times for the penguins? I was lucky to “bump” into feeding time on one of my visits. One of the penguins was quite a character as it was dancing under the water hose as you were cleaning the penguin environment.

By: pschaller

pschaller — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:43:45 +0000

Noah, Penguins eat about 15% of their body weight every day. This is the equivalent to an adult human eating about 80 hamburgers in one meal. They approach me quickly when they are hungry and when they are full, they do not come over for food any more.

By: pschaller

pschaller — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:41:28 +0000

Elizabeth, Kianga has a very dark head as she still has her juvenile feathers. Yes, you can take photos of the penguins when you visit us. There are a few animals that are nervous with camera flashes and those animals have signs on their homes.

By: Noah

Noah — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 01:14:36 +0000

When do you know that penguins need food?

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 04:37:34 +0000

What a beautiful creature! I do not have a fully lighted view of
her head but hope to be at the Science building to see her in “person”!
Can we take camera shots of the animals? I want to do that if possible.
I am a native of the Bay Area but certain restrictions have interrupted my normally easy access to San Francisco. Hoping to overcome those I look forward
to visiting the Science Academy; it is rather embarrassing (to myself)
to realize I have not yet seen the new Academy. However it will be
all the more marvelous having waited for my visit. Sincerely, EAM