Deep Dive Into The Life Of A Penguin & Its Dinner Plans Via ‘Penguin Cam’

The life of a penguin seems to be a carefree dream that many of us can only be envious of. Spending idyllic days belly-flopping to slide on the ice, waddling around with a group of friends, watching the sun rise and set over oceans and ice? It’s almost aspirational. 

If that struck somewhat of a pining chord, there’s somewhat good news: We can now live vicariously through the penguins themselves. ‘Penguin Cam’ exists, and it has captured quite the experience via a penguin selfie video.

WOW! Penguin takes astounding selfie video while it dives and feeds #penguinawarnessday @wcsargentina @CadicUshuaia https://t.co/nIqgs2UXBE pic.twitter.com/lp2aGFGXOk

— WCS Newsroom: #EarthStrong (@WCSNewsroom) January 18, 2022

It’s not quite the same as diving beak-first into icy cold water, but maybe that’s a good thing. 

Captured by a male Gentoo penguin traversing the Beagle Channel off Isla Martillo, Argentina, the video not only delights its audiences but also helps researchers to investigate the species’ feeding habits. 

The camera had been donated by the Tawaki Project and fitted onto the penguin as part of a study on feeding ecology. This is a three-way effort by WCS Argentina, the Antarctic Research Trust, and the Tawaki Project. 

This compares the habits of the Gentoo penguins of Argentina to the yellow-eyed penguins of New Zealand. 

It’s been known that the Gentoo penguin will most often search for their food along the seabed, but as the footage shows, a shoal of baitfish isn’t something that they’ll be turning down, either. 

The camera was attached for just one “foraging trip,” according to a press release by the WCS. After the penguin returned, it was unattached and the “breeding success of the nest” monitored. 

The penguin, unaffected by its rise to fame, had reportedly faithfully “continued with its parental duties and taking care of the offspring.”

“We wrote in many papers that the seabird community in the Beagle Channel rely on sardines but this is the actual proof,” states Andrea Raya Rey, associate researcher at WCS Argentina. 

“And now it is confirmed and with a star behind the camera: the penguin.”

[via HuffPost and Science Alert, image via WCS Argentina]