Hi Penguin enthusiasts!  I am Pam Montbach, the newest member of the penguin team at the academy. In order not to be confused with the other, more experienced, penguin biologist Pam, everyone calls me Monty. I’ve been working with these gregarious birds since May and you’ll usually see me in the exhibit diving and feeding on Thursday afternoons. My main job at the Steinhart is to care for and culture our jellyfish. I am also on the shark team and work closely with the California coast animals we have at the Academy. Getting a chance to work with the penguins has been an exciting and rewarding experience for me. Each time I step into the exhibit to feed or clean I get a peek into another world. Watching the birds moving on land, jumping on the rocks, fighting for territory, and belly-flopping into the water can be quite humorous.  But all of that awkwardness disappears as soon as they enter the water. They are sleek and agile. I get to see this up close when I am diving to clean the tank. I love to interact with them underwater and watch them in their element.  Each of our birds has a distinct personality and watching the relationships form between individual penguins and getting to bond with the birds myself is truly a treat.- Pam Montbach

Hi there, this is Vikki and I’m one of the penguin biologists at the Academy.  I have been working with penguins for over six years now, and am still fascinated by the social interactions that can be observed between individuals in a colony.  I also enjoy comparing and contrasting this colony of African penguins with the colony of Magellanic penguins that I worked with previously.  As one of the aviculturists on staff, I have the opportunity to work with all the birds that presently reside at the Academy.  Penguin antics will always be some of my favorites though!- Vikki McCloskey