Pierre, an endangered rockhopper penguin, has become quite a sensation on the internet recently.
Read on to know why.
A resident of the Perth Zoo in Australia, Pierre undertook a massive journey from islands in the Indian or South Atlantic Ocean before it was washed ashore on a beach in the South-west coast of Australia. It is the only penguin of his type to be cared for by a Zoo in Australasia.
Unfortunately, he has been experiencing feather moulting problems and is in rehabilitation in isolation, being taken care of and nursed by the Perth Zoo veterinary team.
To keep him entertained and engaged during this time and to ensure that he is able to still see and hear penguins of his type, the zookeepers began playing videos and documentaries of rockhopper penguins from across international zoos such as those in Kansas City Zoo in the USA and Edinburgh Zoo in the UK on an iPad.
Pierre’s a big fan of Pingu pic.twitter.com/IBqsCCZrtu
— Perth Zoo (@PerthZoo) August 28, 2020
Pierre has now become iPad savvy and is enjoying the entertaining content.
But what is remarkable is that Pierre has taken a special liking to Pingu – the adorable penguin from the children’s television series.
“He’s absolutely loved it,” said Danielle Henry from the zoo to Radio 1 Newsbeat. “But he probably doesn’t realise that Pingu is a penguin. He’s just responding to the colour and the movement.
“From his behaviour we can tell he’s enjoying it. He’s vocalising really well. And that’s exactly what we wanted him to do.”
According to the website of the Perth Zoo, Rockhopper Penguins are one of the rarest penguins in the world. The global population is thought to be less than 240,300 breeding pairs.
Watch the adorable video and let us know what you think of Pierre in the comments section below.
