DOZENS OF PENGUINS at the San Francisco Zoo and Gardens received their annual physical exam Thursday, getting their health checked from head to toe.
San Francisco Zoo is home to one of the largest colonies of Magellanic penguins in North America. Magellanic penguins are native to Argentina and Chile, and the zoo has 51 of the penguins that live in 200-foot-long pool with a rocky island in the center known as “Penguin Island.”
The yearly exam allows veterinarians to take a closer look at each penguin and determine if further tests are needed if they notice any health anomalies.
One by one, each penguin was rounded up outside their habitat and evaluated. Veterinarians looked at the health of each penguin’s heart, lungs, eyes, feet, fins and beak.Some of the more common health concerns that veterinarians looked out for were feet lesions and cataracts.
“We like to say that happy feet make a happy penguin, because their foot health is so important to their overall like well-being,” said Dr. Nick Dannemiller in an interview.
The penguins also got their beaks reshaped with nail files since their beaks can sometimes overgrow. They had their nails clipped and got their annual vaccine for West Nile virus.
Zookeepers who look after the penguins were able to identify each penguin by their features and often distinct personalities. Most of the penguins in the colony are in their late teens and early 20s.
Scout is the oldest penguin in the colony at 36 years old. As the zoo’s veteran penguin, Thursday’s physical exam was a walk in the park for him.
The overall process took about 10 minutes for each of the penguins.
But for most penguins, like 3-year-old Knuckles, they often squirmed in the arms of the zoo workers during the check-up.
“There are a lot of animals and even people that don’t enjoy going to the doctor, but I think we try to make it as stress-free as possible,” Dannemiller said. “When we do the exam, we’re really efficient. We want to make sure that we’re prioritizing their well-being.”
Finally, after getting weighed on the scale, each penguin was taken back to their habitat at Penguin Island, where they waddled away and basked in the sun, a reward for getting through their once-a-year doctor’s appointment.