Penguin Love is in the Air for Valentines Day at Mystic Aquarium

I'll come right out and say it; I love everything about penguins and what's not to love. They're adorable waddlers with their googly eyes, and I can't believe I missed 'Penguin Awareness Day' on January 20.

Enter your number to get our free mobile app

From wtnh.com comes word that the 14 mated pairs of penguins help countdown to Valentine's Day at the Penguin Pavilion at Mystic Aquarium. Tracy Camp, Supervisor of Penguins at the aquarium, said,

They are one of the very few animals on the planet that will stay with a mate their entire lives. Some of out mated pairs have been together now for thirty years.

 

I've been watching the Live Penguin Stream for the last five minutes. When I tuned in, it looked like they were all congregating for a group meeting, but then they broke up into small discussion groups.

One of the pair, Green Black and Green Blue, have been a couple since 2003 and are great grandparents. On occasion, the chicks will leave the nest for a sleepover party with another penguin chick.

I've got one more penguin fun fact that's both gross and fascinating. Where there's a massive group of penguins, you can count on a huge amount of dark excrement called guano. Some of these colonies can number in the hundreds of thousands and are called 'Woodstock Colonies.'

That is absolutely not true; I just made it up. The largest 'supercolony' of penguins numbering 1.5 million, was found on the Danger Islands near the Antarctic Peninsula's tip-in 2015. Between the number of penguins and their poop, researchers could actually see the group from space!