Zoo makes special wetsuit for one of their oldest penguins: ‘She’s a spicy old lady’
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV/Gray News) - An older penguin at the Kansas City Zoo is thriving after her care team crafted a custom wetsuit for her.
According to Whitney Geslois, a senior animal care specialist at the zoo, Bridget is a 37-year-old gentoo penguin and is amongst the oldest in the country. To put her age into perspective, penguins typically live around 15 years in the wild.
“She is a spicy old lady. She has her little area; she loves her snow piles. She likes to hang out on the right side of our habitat,” Geslois said. “She will nip anyone who gets near her. She moves around the exhibit very well for 37. She’ll take the occasional dip and play in the snow daily.”
Since she is an older penguin, zoo specialists began to notice Bridget was having some problems. Geslois said she was laying down a lot and various medications weren’t alleviating any discomfort.
Radiographs showed she was unable to reach her uropygial gland, which secretes the oil that waterproofs a penguin’s feathers and keeps them warm in the water and drier in the water.
Geslois and a sewing assistant from a life support operator at the zoo created a wetsuit for Bridget since she was having trouble waterproofing her feathers and staying warm. While other facilities have created wetsuits for penguins across the country, this is a first for the Kansas City Zoo.
“She moves around really well,” said Geslois. “You can see she is able to move her wings. She swims in it. There she is, just getting out. She’ll walk and play in the snow. She’s able to be very mobile in it.”
Zoo specialists take the wetsuit off Bridget every night for her comfort and to ensure it doesn’t snag on anything. They put it on her every morning, despite her feisty personality.
“She’ll just give us a little nip or two, but she takes it pretty well,” Geslois said.
On Friday, the Kansas City Zoo took to social media to say Bridget is continuing to have fun in the water and snow with the rest of the penguin colony and thanked Whitney and the care team for helping her.
“All of these penguins are very special to all of us, so we do our very best for each individual case,” said Geslois.
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