The Taipei Zoo has been a hot spot for tourism over the Lunar New Year holiday, with its penguin exhibit becoming one of the most visited pavilions as tourists flocked to it to see the zoo’s resident African penguins.
The African penguin is the only species of penguin that lives in Africa. Since 2013, it has been considered an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, as its population in the wild has been rapidly decreasing as a result of destruction of its habitats, marine pollution and overfishing.
The penguins can attain an average swimming speed of 7kph, reach top speeds of 20kph, and can remain under water for up to two minutes, the zoo said.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Zoo
Swimming is essential for penguins, and prolonged periods of staying on shore could cause the animals to suffer from bumble foot or similar diseases, the zoo said.
Zoo officials said they arrange for all of its resident penguin populations to take a “morning swim,” adding that the sight of many penguins gathered in the pool is not dissimilar to people lounging in hot springs.
The zoo also said it had installed new nano-bubble machines in the penguins’ pool to increase oxygen and purify the water.
Some of the penguins enjoy the novelty of the new machines and constantly swim through the bubbles, it said.
Visitors can visit the penguins and see them swim every day from 9:30am to 10:30am.
Two people were killed and another nine injured yesterday after being stung by hornets while hiking in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳), with officials warning against wearing perfume or straying from trails during the autumn to avoid the potentially deadly creatures. Seven of the hikers only sustained minor injuries after being stung along the Bafenliao Hiking Trail (八分寮) and made their way down the mountain with a guide, the New Taipei City Fire Department said. Four of them — all male — sustained more serious injuries and were assisted when leaving the mountain, the department said. Two of them, a man surnamed
Recent movements by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have been “highly unusual,” but the military maintains a grasp of the situation, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said on Friday, after the military for the first time said it was monitoring troop movements in China’s Dacheng Bay (大埕灣). The minister gave the remarks to reporters before appearing at the legislature on the first day of its new session. The Ministry of National Defense on Thursday evening released an air force surveillance photograph of a PLA Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, and said it was monitoring the PLA Rocket Force and ground
‘ABNORMITY’: News of the military exercises on the coast of the Chinese province facing Taiwan were made public by the Ministry of National Defense on Thursday Taiwan’s military yesterday said it has detected the Chinese military initiating a round of exercises at a bay area in coastal Fujian Province, which faces Taiwan, since early yesterday morning and it has been closely monitoring the drills. The exercises being conducted at Fujian’s Dacheng Bay featured an undisclosed number of People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) warplanes, warships and ground troops, the Ministry of National Defense said in a press statement. The ministry did not disclose what kind of military exercises are being conducted there and for how long they would be happening, but it did say that it has been closely watching
China’s Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong has asked foreign consulates in Hong Kong to submit details of their local staff, which is more proof that the “one country, two systems” model no longer exists, a Taiwanese academic said. The office sent letters dated Monday last week to consulates in the territory, giving them one month to submit the information it requires. The move followed Beijing’s attempt to obtain floor plans for all properties used by foreign missions in Hong Kong last year, which raised concerns among diplomats that the information could be used for
RSS