Elderly penguins are retiring in style on their own island at this Boston aquarium

Emily Dineen · CBC Radio

· Posted: Mar 20, 2025 3:33 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 hours ago

The elder African penguins astatine the New England Aquarium successful Boston person received their ain island, wherever they are fed restaurant-grade food and vitamins, and get pampered with acupuncture and physiotherapy sessions.  

This caller set-up comes aft the elder swimmers had a hard clip warring for their nutrient and abstraction with the younger penguins.

"Animals, particularly penguins, tin beryllium territorial, particularly during nesting seasons oregon breeding seasons," Kristen McMahon, curator of pinnipeds and penguins for the carnal attraction squad astatine the New England Aquarium, told As It Happens big Nil Köksal.

"Older animals are a spot little engaged with territory behaviour."

Because animals successful captivity unrecorded overmuch longer than their chaotic counterparts, aquariums and zoos are coming up with caller methods to instrumentality attraction of aging animals, portion moving toward conservation of endangered species. 

Getting grey feathers

McMahon says the penguins person survived truthful agelong due to the fact that of their diet, and the deficiency of quality menace and pollution. 

"They person galore predators [in the wild] that volition prime disconnected animals that are a small older oregon that determination a small slower," MacMahon said.

With property comes mobility problems, which made it hard for these geriatric penguins to get nutrient connected the main island, wherever younger penguins would propulsion them retired of the mode during feeding sessions.

To assistance with mobility issues, vets astatine the aquarium springiness the older penguins acupuncture oregon carnal therapy truthful they tin proceed swimming along. 

"Some of our older birds person spinal issues," Dr. Melissa Joblon, manager of carnal health, explained to the CBC. "So we'll determination their legs and joints and limbs astir successful antithetic ways … to summation their scope of motion."

Joblon said the penguins besides person an obstacle people connected their land to support them moving.

An endangered species

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, African penguins are an endangered species. The New England Aquarium aims to combat this by encouraging mating pairs. 

"I deliberation a batch of radical spot immoderate bully pictures and presume those populations are doing well, but they're not," Dolf DeJong, CEO of the Toronto Zoo, told CBC. 

The Toronto Zoo is location to much than 20 African penguins, and DeJong says conservation enactment done by zoos and aquariums tin assistance marque a alteration successful African waters. 

"One of the cardinal pieces we're doing to commencement with is getting that accusation that they are astatine hazard successful people's hands," helium said. 

He said the zoo is successful a presumption wherever they could nonstop steadfast penguin eggs to African countries if they spot a diminution successful the chaotic population. 

DeJong said it wasn't agelong agone that African penguin populations utilized to beryllium successful the millions, but implicit the years it has dwindled into astir 20,000 penguins. 

The New England Aquarium and the Toronto Zoo are some putting successful efforts to amended radical astir conservation of endangered species. 

The New England Aquarium sent 1 of their penguin trainers to South Africa past year to assistance rehabilitate a rescued penguin. They are looking to bash the aforesaid this year. 

DeJong, too, had the accidental to sojourn a formation successful South Africa and ticker a conservation squad assistance the penguins. 

"They are retired connected the beaches making definite that erstwhile [these penguins] are connected land, they are being protected," DeJong explained. "In the lawsuit of abandoned eggs oregon young chicks, those individuals really spell into the aforesaid installation wherever they tin beryllium rehabilitated and released. And you tin spot successful the yearly reports the interaction and the occurrence of that."

The adjacent steps… oregon swims

Joblon says even though the land is great, the squad is inactive readying connected making immoderate changes.

"The ones that are connected this geriatric penguin land tin get up connected the stone beauteous well, but we bash program to marque it much accessible," Joblon said.

The aquarium's adjacent measurement is to enactment successful ramps, and different akin structures truthful that the penguins tin crawl up easily.

Penguin personality

Both Joblon and DeJong accidental that each penguin brings its ain property to the table. 

"They are arsenic divers arsenic you and I arsenic acold arsenic antithetic personalities," DeJong said. "It's humbling and a small spot scary erstwhile you deliberation astir it" 

Joblon said that's surely connected show astatine the New England Aquarium's geriatric island.

Some, she says, are "very cute and cuddly" and "really similar to person their cervix scratched oregon their backmost scratched."

"It's precise cute," she said. "They are rather intelligent and they're precise personable."