King Penguins Chill Out in the Cotswolds

Keeper has ice-cream break with the Penguins!

Though the recent spat of warm weather is being highly welcomed by most, a particular community is struggling with the dramatic sunny shift and their subsequent experience of more tropical climes.

At Birdland in Bourton-on- the-Water, keepers are working overtime to cool down their charges that are more used to Antarctic conditions and in order to pacify the king penguins - who are not so keen on the soaring temperatures - they are busy creating a series of mini icebergs to mitigate the heat.

Birdland Director, Simon Blackwell, says: "We're busy filling up 1.5-litre ice cream tubs with water and freezing them in our large walk-in freezers. Then we spread around the ice blocks for the birds to do what they want on them – from standing to lounging, but one block only lasts about one-and-a-half to two hours in the heat!” 

Queuing for the shower

The team is well rehearsed in helping the birds keep cool in the warmer months by providing sprinklers and umbrellas, and as adept swimmers they can also take a dip in the pools where visitors can actually see them swimming through the glass-viewing panel.

An adaptable animal, Penguins can actually ‘pant’ just like dogs to help cool down, and the Humboldt species also circulate blood to areas of their body not covered in feathers such as their feet, flippers and face, which helps to keep the rest of their body cool.

However, the heat wave particularly affects king penguins because at this time of year they have paired off and have developed a tendency to be more inactive and so are not spending so much time in the water cooling off.

Simon explains: "They like to stand up close to their mate and if we don't keep them cool, there could be problems with stress - so the icebergs are proving the perfect solution!”