Ytown Tribe fan
01-17-2003, 05:58 PM
Here's something you don't see in the paper everyday:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/01/16/MN175528.DTL
Brainwashed by six newcomers from Ohio, 46 penguins at the San Francisco Zoo have abandoned their burrows and embarked on a great migration --
except their pool is not exactly the coast of South America and there's really nowhere for them to go.
"We've lost complete control," said Jane Tollini, their mystified keeper. "It's a free-for-all in here. After 18 years of doing this job, these birds are making mincemeat of me."
They've all been swimming since Christmas Eve, whirling around the pool like tuxedos in a washing machine. No one knows why they started or when they'll stop. All they know is that the zoo's Penguin Island has turned into a very chaotic place.
"Round and round they go," Tollini said. "They almost make me dizzy."
In early 2000, Sea World in Aurora, Ohio, was sold, and its Magellanic penguins, accustomed to swimming all winter, were shipped to Sea World in San Diego. Half a dozen of them moved to San Francisco in November, and they met their new colleagues 3 1/2 weeks ago.
Since then, nothing has been the same.
Within two hours, the three males and three females from Ohio -- smaller and more docile than their mean and hefty San Francisco counterparts -- had convinced the 46 to jump in the pool with them. Now they swim most of the day and stagger out only at dusk.
"This is so bizarre, I don't know how to even explain it," said Tollini on a recent morning, gazing at their empty homes. "Normally every burrow would be occupied by pairs. This is their down time. Before, it took a grenade to get them out."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/01/16/MN175528.DTL
Brainwashed by six newcomers from Ohio, 46 penguins at the San Francisco Zoo have abandoned their burrows and embarked on a great migration --
except their pool is not exactly the coast of South America and there's really nowhere for them to go.
"We've lost complete control," said Jane Tollini, their mystified keeper. "It's a free-for-all in here. After 18 years of doing this job, these birds are making mincemeat of me."
They've all been swimming since Christmas Eve, whirling around the pool like tuxedos in a washing machine. No one knows why they started or when they'll stop. All they know is that the zoo's Penguin Island has turned into a very chaotic place.
"Round and round they go," Tollini said. "They almost make me dizzy."
In early 2000, Sea World in Aurora, Ohio, was sold, and its Magellanic penguins, accustomed to swimming all winter, were shipped to Sea World in San Diego. Half a dozen of them moved to San Francisco in November, and they met their new colleagues 3 1/2 weeks ago.
Since then, nothing has been the same.
Within two hours, the three males and three females from Ohio -- smaller and more docile than their mean and hefty San Francisco counterparts -- had convinced the 46 to jump in the pool with them. Now they swim most of the day and stagger out only at dusk.
"This is so bizarre, I don't know how to even explain it," said Tollini on a recent morning, gazing at their empty homes. "Normally every burrow would be occupied by pairs. This is their down time. Before, it took a grenade to get them out."