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If there’s one hero of the bird world that everyone loves, it’s the penguin.
Whether it’s their trademark waddle, their adorable faces or the fact that they propose to prospective partners with the perfect pebble, there is so much that makes this flightless bird special.
Most penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere (fun fact: there are no penguins in Greenland, which is as north as you can get), but for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, penguins are resident in zoos and sanctuaries across the world.
And at Cincinnati Zoo recently, something very special happened in their little blue penguin enclosure.
Mark Dumont/Cincinnati Zoo
Across the world, there are up to a million little blue penguins (Eudyptula minor), also known as fairy penguins thanks to their petite size.
Cincinnati Zoo has 37 individual little blue penguins, living in the zoo’s ‘Roo Valley’ – what started as a population of six has led to a very successful breeding programme, with over 100 chicks hatching since 1999.
Endemic to the southern coast of Australia and New Zealand, these little birds are popular at the zoo thanks to their blue and white plumage and adorably small size.
At around the size of a bowling ball, they are the smallest penguin species in the world, and love to dive for their food. That’s why their feathers are such a distinct color: because they’re so small, they’ve adapted to camouflage against ocean waves, to protect themselves from predators.
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In the wild, little blue penguins usually live for up to ten years. Since the older penguins aren’t predated upon in managed care, they can live up to twenty years in captivity.
But for one little blue penguin at Cincinnati Zoo, age is just a number: Lazzie recently celebrated a record-breaking birthday, reaching the age of 25!
This milestone is even more special, since Lazzie was actually the first little blue penguin to hatch at Cincinnati Zoo back in the year 2000.
This millennium baby is still going strong, with the zoo reporting in a Facebook post that she is still keeping up with the younger birds and living a happy, healthy life at the zoo.
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