Penguin Encounter

This wasn't the first time I had encountered penguins, but it was the most memorable!

While visiting my family back in Texas, my parents and I had the opportunity to visit Waco's Cameron Park Zoo for a special penguin encounter experience. We were joined by the zoo director himself, who was hosting a city councilwoman and her parents. 

Read more: I visit Boulders Beach in South Africa and see wild penguins: The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: June 18: Boulders

We had tickets to go behind the scenes at the zoo's new penguin exhibit for a small group feeding and educational session.

The zookeeper introduced us to the penguins, told us facts about them, and answered all of our questions as she fed them fish, which they swallowed whole.

The penguins were hilarious! They had mostly come as retirees from the Fort Worth Zoo when Waco opened its own penguin habitat, and as such, most of the penguins were in their 20s and 30s. The oldest were around my age, and the patriarch was even older than I am!

Each one has his or her own hilarious personality, and they were all very curious. One penguin was especially interested in my mom's shoelaces.

These were African penguins, who are among the smallest of penguin species. They enjoy (relatively) warmer climates and are among the few penguin species to live near humans. The penguins are most easily recognizable by the pink patches above their eyes, which are actually a sort of natural air conditioning unit. The pink patches become inflamed, cooling off the penguins' blood and helping to regulate their temperatures.

VIDEO>> A Penguin Tries to Eat my Mom's Shoes