Another great day for the conservation doc and all of us in general, because you know what we did all day? HUNG OUT WITH PENGUINS!
We got up today and went straight to SANCCOB (South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds). There was little bit of confusion at the beginning, but we soon hopped right into the average day of the staff, learning about the work they do towards penguin conservation, getting to witness some of the feedings, and of course getting to meet the birds.
SANCCOB seemed to me to have a great mindset as far as their treatment of the birds. Their passion for what they do was also very apparent. One of our guides told us about the chicks that she is in charge of, how the chicks actually don't require as much protection as the adults. Most of the adult penguins living at SANCCOB are either permanent birds or long term rehabilitation birds, for example, many of the birds have sight problems and one bird we met has a neurological disorder where the staff had to reteach her to swim in their rehabilitation pool. There is also a bird there named Bones who was in a motorboat accident where he lost both of his feet. Thanks to SANCCOB he can still get around all right, but it's likely that he will never be returned to the wild.
We also had two more fantastic interviews for the conservation group with the staff of SANCCOB. One of the things that stuck out to me most was the idea that all of these penguins have their own personalities and ticks. They have lovey penguins, aggressive penguins, sassy penguins. Exactly like the ones at the Newport Aquarium back home. Penguins also date. Juanita (our main contact) even told us an adorable story about how even when they released a particular penguin into the wild, he came back seventy-five times for his girlfriend.
SANCCOB was an incredibly productive filming day and we can't wait to meet even more penguins along the way.
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