Nature Institute Shares Irresistible ‘Begging’ Sound Penguin Chicks Make When Hungry
If there's one thing almost everybody can agree on, it's that baby animals are all adorable. Located in New Orleans, Audubon Nature Institute shares cute videos of the animals that live there, and the videos are also educational which makes them even better. They shared a video in mid-April of Briana, one of their bird keepers, introducing us to and telling us all about their two-month-old African penguin chick named Gouda.
Briana starts by explaining that these penguins grow to adult size very quickly. He's losing his baby-down feathers, and you can see his shiny adult feathers towards the bottom of his body. Once the baby feathers are gone, they will start introducing him to water and the rest of the penguin colony. It's all very interesting but watch and listen at the end to hear the sound he makes when begging for food...the sound would immediately make me hand him a treat!
Briana explains that Gouda quickly learned that the begging sound he makes to alert his parents that he's hungry also works and gets him attention, love, or almost anything else he wants! Audubon's commenters all agreed that not only is Gouda super cute, but so is his name. Gouda is the perfect name for the chick since his mom and dad are named Ritz and Saltine!
Related: Video of Aquarium’s Brand New Baby Penguin Is So Cute We Can’t Even
Facts About Penguins
I think we can agree that Gouda is a cutie! I love watching penguins waddle about and since I started writing here at Pet Helpful, I've learned a thing or two about them. For instance, it will take about a year and a half for Gouda to grow into his black and white feathering after he loses the rest of his down feathers. And a penguin's tuxedo-like coloring isn't just a fashion statement; the colors help camouflage them from predators on land and also in the water while hunting and swimming. If you look at them from the top of the water, their black backs blend into the dark ocean water. But if you look up at them from below, their white bellies match the bright surface. Pretty cool party trick!
National Geographic wildlife photographer Bertie Gregory taught me that penguin colonies smell absolutely terrible... they really stink! That made me wonder, "How bad could they really be?" and I recently found out that it's worse than I thought. My family recently visited the Georgia Aquarium, and we could smell the penguins before we could see them!
Like Briana mentioned, penguins love to eat. They eat up to 2 pounds of food each day, and almost double that during the winter months.
Penguins are also very curious and observant. These two penguins spotted a 'hidden' camera that researchers put out in Antarctica, and the pair pulled off the ultimate photobomb!
This fact always makes me swoon - did you know that penguins love to give each other rocks? It's one of the ways that male penguins woo the females they have their eyes on...the perfect rock is the best gift a lady can get!
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