Photo Diary: Penguins !!!

My sister is down from Pennsylvania to visit for a little while, and since we can’t get to Disney (she’s a huge Disney fan but they are still under covid restrictions) I’m taking her to visit some other local stuff. One spot we went to is Zoo Tampa, and we did one of the Backstage Animal Encounters, where you get to interact with some of the zoo animals. So… Penguins!

We all had to wear masks because the birds are susceptible to the coronavirus

These are South African Penguins

The Penguins are trained to stand on these artificial rocks so the visitors can get close

Petting the Penguins

My sister petting the Penguins

They feel kinda squishy—they have thick layers of body fat under their feathers

They seemed to like my sister and gathered round

One of them got a bit too curious, and tried to sample my sister’s knee. Chomp. 

Since I was wearing sandals, my wiggly toes also seemed to be an irresistible target

But they loved a good backscratching

“Hi there, human. Got any spare fish?”