Aquarium Builds New ‘Assisted Living’ Retirement Retreat for Aging African Penguins to Live Out Their Golden Years
At the New England Aquarium, the geriatric birds can now enjoy a quieter, calmer setting with an emphasis on personalized care
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/headshot/SarahKuta.png)
Like humans, African penguins tend to slow down as they age. They might suffer from arthritis and other age-related conditions, and they’ll spend more of their time resting.
Now, the geriatric birds at the New England Aquarium can live out their golden years in peace and comfort on a new, secluded island created specifically for their unique needs.
The nonprofit aquarium in Boston unveiled its new penguin “retirement” retreat in mid-March. So far, eight of the aquarium’s dapper black-and-white seabirds are settling into the new habitat.
“We think of this island like assisted living, where we’re helping the birds be more comfortable in a calmer environment,” says Diana Major, penguin manager for the New England Aquarium, in a statement. “Being relaxed is key, and we think the new retirement home will ultimately lead to happier and healthier penguins.”
In the wild, African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) typically live to be between 10 and 15 years old—if they make it that far. The seabirds are critically endangered, grappling with issues like pollution and climate change in the coastal waters of South Africa and Namibia.
Predatory gulls and ibises eat up to 40 percent of the birds’ eggs, and they continue to prey on chicks after they hatch. Adults are also hunted by caracals, leopards, mongooses, fur seals and sharks.
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/77/8c/778c79af-04ac-4350-80c9-f08785a7fdf9/geriatricpenguins-2.jpg)
Overfishing presents another problem. As humans harvest more fish, “there is less fish for them to eat, which means they’re having to swim farther and farther out to find food,” says Jen Kottyan, bird curator at the Maryland Zoo, which has an African penguin program, to the Daily Free Press’ Lauren Albano. “They have less food to feed their young, because they’re burning off all those calories that they need swimming back and forth.”
Scientists say the birds could become extinct in the wild by 2035. But the New England Aquarium and other zoos are trying to help restore the wild population under efforts coordinated by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
In captivity, African penguins don’t have to deal with the same challenges as their wild peers, and they benefit from around-the-clock care from a dedicated team of keepers and veterinarians. The New England Aquarium offers them amenities, including physical therapy, eye drops, foot ointment, acupuncture and special fish that have been injected with extra water to promote kidney functioning. The birds are also regularly screened for conditions like arthritis and cataracts.
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/d2/bb/d2bb2bb9-08cf-4b6c-a4d5-504b17a7eb96/geriatricpenguins-5.jpg)
As a result, several of the African penguins at the New England Aquarium are now in their 30s, and more than half of the colony has met or surpassed the wild birds’ life expectancy.
“In the wild, they would never reach this age,” says Major in another statement. “A lot of the time, we see physical issues that we normally wouldn’t see in the wild, because in the wild, if you slow down, you get eaten by a shark.”
Caretakers decided to create a separate area for them to relax and co-exist in peace, without having to compete with younger birds for food or deal with as much territorial behavior. The smaller number of residents means caretakers can keep a closer eye on the aging penguins via in-person monitoring and a video feed. Moving forward, caretakers also hope to add additional accessibility features, like sloping ramps and more flat areas with mats.
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/5f/0f/5f0ff7a3-4fea-4de7-98f8-9eac234102be/geriatricpenguins-3.jpg)
The geriatric birds can still see and hear their younger counterparts—the retirement island is cordoned off from the aquarium’s three other islands by a mesh gate in the water. But they have a space to spread out and call their own.
“They all get a good opportunity to eat and take their time and not feel rushed, not get pushed off the island by another animal that’s anxious to eat,” says Kristen McMahon, the aquarium’s curator of pinnipeds and penguins, to the New York Times’ Amanda Holpuch. “The birds are definitely quieter, there’s less territoriality… There’s a little bit more laying down and resting.”
The residents of what McMahon describes as a “country club for older animals” include 32-year-old Harlequin and 31-year-old Durban, a mated pair of penguins who have been together since 2000 and raised eight chicks. Then there’s Lambert, a 32-year-old male, with a 14-year-old mate named Dyer. Boulders, 34, and Isis, 29, are two females without mates.
After the initial six birds got settled in, the aquarium added its oldest African penguin, 35-year-old Good Hope, and his 23-year-old mate, St. Croix, to the mix, per Axios’ Mike Deehan and Steph Solis.
Each bird has its own distinct personality. Some, for example, “really like to have their neck scratched or their back scratched,” says Melissa Joblon, the aquarium’s director of animal health, to Nil Kӧksal of CBC Radio’s “As It Happens.”
“It’s very cute,” she adds. “They are quite intelligent and they’re very personable.”
