Penguins p-p-p-pick up a pebble

Penguins offer their potential mate a pebble as a "token of love"

By Cara Sulieman

LOVE IS in the air at Edinburgh Zoo as the penguin mating season gets under way.

The female gentoo penguins have taken their place on the nesting rings scattered around the enclosure and are waiting for male penguins to offer them a token of love in the shape of a pebble.

This unique courting ritual will be played out over the following weeks – and will be broadcast live on the zoo’s webcam.

The female bird will only take the pebble that catches her eye, and the male that gives it to her becomes her mate.

But there are also cases of “pebble envy” within the group, with sneaky male penguins trying to nab the best looking pebbles from other nests for their own sweetheart.

Penguin holidays are perfect p-p-p-pick me up for Julia

By Jenna Raffaelli

A woman is so fond of penguins that she has travelled thousands of miles just to visit them in different colonies.

Julie Odell, 43, has been as far afield New Zealand, the Falkland Islands and even Antarctica to see the birds in their natural habitat.

Her home in Edinburgh – which has penguin figures on the gate – is stuffed full of cuddly toys, fridge magnets and pictures.

PICK ME UP: Julie Odell with King penguins in the Falklands

Julie, a former nurse, spends hours watching Gentoo penguins at Edinburgh Zoo via a webcam and hopes to travel to see them at the Galapagos islands.

She said: “I just love these funny little birds. They are so unusual.”

But it takes huge patience and dedication to catch sight of the birds.

She said: “In the South Island of New Zealand I would wait for hours in a chilly bird hide to see the illusive yellow-eyed penguin come in from the sea. I also saw African penguins on Boulders Beach in South Africa and Gentoo penguins in Antarctica and South Georgia.”

Penguin has happy feet again after boots help his tootsies heal

Rockie in action with his booties

By Cara Sulieman

A PLUCKY penguin who suffered months of pain in its feet is on the road to recovery after kind hearted keepers fitted it with a pair of custom made waterproof booties.

Rockie the Rockhopper was struck down with a bad bout of Bumblefoot and his tender feet needed protecting.

So kind caring staff at the popular visitors attraction fashioned him a natty pair of boots to protect them from the sharp rocks in his enclosure.

Penguins at Edinburgh Zoo become webcam sensation

By Cara Sulieman

A PILOT trial of a webcam watching penguins at Edinburgh Zoo has been such a hit that it is to be made a permanent fixture.

It was set up in June to capture the Gentoo penguins nesting and bringing up their young and has been attracting 9000 visitors a month so far.

There was even a massive Twitter campaign to get it back up and running after technical hitches saw the camera go down briefly.

Bosses admit they never expected the scheme to be as popular as it has been and are now looking at rolling out the idea to other animal enclosures.