Balding penguin gets wetsuit
Ralph the penguin
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Friday, 14, Aug 2009 02:42
A balding penguin at a UK wildlife park has been kitted out with a custom-made wetsuit to protect him from sunburn.
Ralph the penguin, who lives at Marwell Wildlife Centre in Hampshire, has had a wetsuit made for him by one of his keepers out of the leg of a human's wetsuit.
Penguins moult every year over the course of about four to six weeks. However, Ralph, a nine-year-old Humboldt penguin, lost all his feathers in one day, which has exposed his pale pink skin to the sun.
His keepers say the stretchy wetsuit material will allow him to swim around normally, and hope his new feathers will have grown back underneath in a few weeks time.
David Schofield, head keeper for the penguins said: “At first the other penguins were curious but it wasn’t long before they recognised and accepted Ralph again.
"He doesn’t seem to mind the wetsuit and is able to swim and move around normally. It was quite easy to fit and we were able to customise it by creating the extra openings for his flippers once he was in it.”
Humboldt penguins, like Ralph, live along the coats of Peru and Chile within the reaches of Humboldt Current, a cold current of water running from the Antarctic to the equator.
Humboldt penguins are thought to be declining in number, possibly due to El Nino increasing water temperatures and reducing food supply.
Sarah Garrod