Tiny Penguin Looks Around For His Caregiver At The Zoo And Goes Nuts When He Finally Finds Him For A Belly Rub

Mar 11, 2021 by apost team

An adorable, pint-sized aquatic bird — Cookie the little penguin — shows you how much he loves to have his tummy rubbed in this 2010 video out of the Cincinnati Zoo in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The video starts out with Cookie wobbling into a room and shaking his backside while his wings are raised in the air. You can hear a woman talking about the bird, explaining that because he has a condition called bumblefoot, he must wear a bandage. The woman calls Cookie over to her, and the bird flaps his wings as he shuffles his tiny feet to move across the floor.

Then the penguin lets out a chirp and continues to walk forward, shaking his little booty all the while. Cookie seems to be on a mission, and you soon find out what that is when you see him approach his owner’s outstretched hand to get his belly rubbed.

As the man tickles the tiny bird’s stomach, you can hear the penguin laughing, and you can see him leaning into the man’s hand.

You can also see him flapping his wings up and down and back and forth very quickly as he thoroughly enjoys himself. In the end, I guess you can say Cookie’s mission was accomplished! Cookie knew he would get his belly rubbed when he found the right person.

Since Patricia Sund uploaded this adorable video, it has spread far and wide across the internet, accumulating more than 15 million views and 60,000 likes. Even media outlets like The Guardian have featured Cookie’s content.

In the 2013 Guardian piece, a pseudonymous science journalist, who goes by the name of “Grllscientist,” commented on Cookie’s origins and his unique bumblefoot condition. According to the “Grllscientist,” Cookie literally belongs to the “little penguin” species, or Eudyptula minor in more scientific terms. As the name suggests, little penguins are the smallest species of penguin, growing up to 13 inches in height and 17 inches in length. In other countries, like Australia and New Zealand, they’re referred to as fairy penguins, little blue penguins and the Maori name kororā.

Grllscientist points out that these little critters are indigenous to the coastline of New Zealand, on the Chatham Islands and on the coast of Australia. In other words, not all penguins come from Antarctica!

As we’ve already mentioned, Cookie suffers from a condition known as bumblefoot, of which there are two varieties.

“In aviculture, there are two conditions known as bumblefoot: one is a condition where the young bird's toes develop abnormally so they point in weird directions, making walking, perching and swimming difficult,” Grllscientist writes. “This condition can be completely resolved through the use of corrective bandages that make the toes grow correctly — if it's caught early enough.”
“The other condition, which occurs in either young or adult birds, is a bacterial infection, and is more correctly known as ulcerative pododermatitis in veterinary medicine,” she adds. “In this situation, application of antibiotic ointments and bandages resolve this condition — if it's caught early enough. Without treatment, the bird may lose its toes or even its entire foot.”

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But don’t despair; Grllscientist goes on to say that Cookie seems to be on the road to recovery and that his "condition will be completely resolved soon.”

Another heartwarming fact about Cookie is that he belongs to a species of penguin that is not endangered. According to Britannica, the little penguin has been listed as “a species of least concern” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN).

However, Britannica adds that some colonies have seen population declines due to building and road construction, commercial fishing operations and newly introduced predators.

With that said, not all penguin species have had such great fortune. In 2010, for example, the IUCN moved the African penguin from the vulnerable to endangered category, according to National Geographic.

“The colonies around our coast have shrunk to dangerously small numbers,” said Ross Wanless, Seabird Division Manager for BirdLife South Africa, in an interview with National Geographic. “Now the colonies are very vulnerable to small-scale events, such as bad weather, seal predation or seagulls taking eggs. In a large, healthy population these events were trivial. Now, they have potentially serious consequences. We’re almost at the point of managing individual birds.”

Rob Crawford, a chief government scientist, went on to explain that while it’s difficult to know exactly why African penguin numbers have declined so sharply as of late, the food chain likely plays a large role. The penguins, he added, simply aren’t able to find enough anchovies and sardines, which could be due to fishing operations.

Zoos and wildlife preserves like Cookie’s are working to bolster African penguin populations, however. For example, the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas welcomed an African penguin baby on Feb. 12, 2021, the 56th chick to hatch at the aquarium, according to myNewOrleans.com.  

“We are very excited to welcome this chick to our African penguin colony,” said Audubon Aquarium’s Curator of Birds William Robles, according to myNewOrleans.com. “Each new chick hatched at the Aquarium plays an integral part in keeping this endangered species thriving and educating guests about the threats that their counterparts face in the wild.”

Ocio, the newborn penguin’s father, and Hubig, its mom, had another baby in 2020 by the name of Zion. The process is quite rigorous, involving thorough health checks, feeding and behavior monitoring via nest camera and around 40 days waiting in anticipation for the egg to hatch. But the work is worth it, especially given African penguins’ current status. There are only around 25,000 breeding pairs of African penguins today, compared to 141,000 in 1956, according to myNewOrleans.com.

African penguins are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Saving Animals (AZA) From Extinction (SAFE) initiative, which works with AZA affiliated facilities to preserve endangered species.

As for Cookie, there haven’t been any updates about the penguin in the past few years, and it seems that the Cincinnati Zoo does not list any little penguins on its website. Instead, the zoo boasts African penguins, housed at the Spaulding’s Children Zoo. Perhaps Cookie has passed on to the other side, or maybe he’s been transferred to another zoo. Regardless, millions of viewers around the world will remember him for his unbelievably adorable penchant for belly rubs. 

What do you think about this adorable video? Did you know that little penguins were an actual species? Let us know — and be sure to pass this on to fellow animal lovers or anyone who might need a pick-me-up in the form of a cute video.