Cape Town: Penguin Teddy becomes an internet star

“Teddy” is not the prettiest, has only one eye, limps a little and likes to be in a bad mood. Still, the rockhopper penguin has recently become a much-admired star on social media – because of its pink footwear.

“She totally rocks,” says Shanet Rutgers as she shoves another fish up his beak in South Africa’s tourist metropolis Cape Town: It’s breakfast time at the Two Oceans Aquarium.

A video that the 30-year-old zookeeper of “Teddy’s” 13-headed rock penguin colony produced attracted attention on social media. It shows the cute troupe waddling through the corridors of the aquarium on their morning stroll: wiggling back and forth, their fins stretched out on both sides and their cool, yellow hair with fringes bobbing in time. “Teddy” wears pink socks, as does his friend “Alex”, at the end of the group “Bubbles” follows with only one pink sock on his feet.

The question of the meaning of this supposed fashion show attracted multitudes of observers online – an attention that thrilled Shanet Rutgers. «Penguins bring so much joy; Especially in these times it is great when we can spread a positive mood, ”she says, referring to her flightless seabirds.

“Teddy” has lived with his partner “Wallace” in a nest in the aquarium’s beach enclosure for 21 years. White sand, erratic boulders and a small area of ​​water: It is an effort to imitate a stretch of coast, the natural habitat of the penguins.

Your nest neighbors – the aggressive «Grommet» and his lovely «Roxy» – have even laid three eggs here. The first northern rockhopper penguins that were born in South Africa hatched out. Because rock penguins – which in English are much more appropriately called rock hoppers (roughly: rock hoppers) – are not at home in South Africa. Their natural habitat comprises two separate areas of subtropical (south of South America) and sub-Antarctic (south of Australia and New Zealand) islands.

The 13 rock hoppers in Cape Town’s Two Oceans Aquarium are rescued birds. “Teddy” was one of the first. He was found in December 1999 with his legs tied with wire. “We assume that he was kept on a ship as a” pet “and thrown into the sea with his legs tied up shortly before arriving in Cape Town,” said Rutgers. That’s why he’s limping today. When he got into the aquarium he was fully grown. “We estimate he’s around 30 years old now.” That makes “Teddy” an old man – because in the wild, penguins tend to live to be 10 to 15 years old.

They get much older in captivity. But then they swim less, so they stand on their feet longer – often in their own droppings, explains Rutgers. Bacterial inflammation forms in the many small wounds on her feet, also called sole ulcers. The zookeeper picks up “Teddy” and places him prone on his forearm. “You can see that quite well with” Teddy “,” she says, slowly peeling the pink bandage off her feet. On the sole of the much used waddles you can see a punctiform notch.

“Teddy” twitches when Rutgers touches her lightly with his finger. “It’s like a painful, purulent pimple,” she explains. And who can walk on purulent pimples? That’s why “Teddy” and some of his older buddies are now wearing a pink protective bandage. Rutgers is now able to put it on quickly. Today the bandages are purple. “Since the video was so successful, there has been no more pink bandage to order from us,” she says and laughs, puts “Teddy” on his newly wrapped feet and off we go. Nothing hurts in the water anymore. Roll left, roll right, wiggle your tail and then go – fast as lightning. A pink lightning bolt, because even a 30-year-old penguin is still a real hit in the water.