JAKARTA - For those who want to spend the weekend, maybe they can come to Ocean Dream Samudra, Ancol, North Jakarta, it could be an option. There, visitors can enjoy various attractions from a number of animals, one of which is the Humboldt penguin.
This penguin, which has another name, spheniscus humboldti, comes from South America or the coasts of Chile and Peru. In the wild, it can live for 15-20 years and eat small fish. This penguin has a body measuring 56 to 66 cm.
When visiting to see the penguins at Ocean Dream Samudra, Ancol, the VOI team got the opportunity to feed the penguins. This is the first time for the VOI team to interact directly with this flightless bird species.
At around 13.00 WIB, we entered the penguin cage. About a dozen penguins live in a very large aquarium. The aquarium is divided into two parts, there is land and water where the penguins swim.
When we entered, the fishy smell of the fish that had been their food burst into our nostrils.
Before interacting with the keeper or aquarium keeper, Bayu, asked us to use the same colored jacket he was wearing. The dark purple and light purple jacket he left it to us to wear.
"This is used, sis. So that the penguins want to come closer. The thing is, they know this color by heart," said Bayu while accompanying us to feed the penguins, Saturday, January 25.
Apart from asking us to wear jackets, Bayu also asked us to wear boots . The reason is, the shoes are clean and have been sterilized to maintain the health of the penguins who are there.
After that, Bayu gave us a transparent box. In it, some flying fish that have died and are ready to be eaten by this penguin. "Later he will come, just love it. Hold the fish tail, not the body," he explained.
We have not even taken the fish from the container, a penguin approached us. His eyes stare at our hands that are holding his favorite kite fish. Not long after, we then thrust the fish towards the penguin's beak and ate it, before he returned to the water to swim.
Adorable penguin behavior, it's just that Bayu forbade us to hold one of them. The reason is, he can only be held by officers.
We then talked to Bayu, he said, even though he had just been given the same menu to eat. He said penguins do not need such cold temperatures because they live in subtropical areas.
"But still have to maintain the temperature, so it is not too hot and not too cold," he said.
Feeding is usually done three times as well as cleaning the aquarium so that the penguins' health is maintained. In addition, each of these penguins is regularly checked for health.
"That's why we use tags on the wings so we can check their health. The colors are different, so they can be monitored too," said Bayu.
He also said that several times the penguins were often involved in fights, although not badly. The reason is, this penguin is indeed a group animal.
Usually, this fight starts when one penguin then challenges another penguin. If you have this, Bayu must be ready to separate those who are fighting.
But from that job, he felt there was no difficulty. Bayu was happy to be able to take care of the Humboldt penguin. "It's finished funny, so there's no grief. I'm just happy," he concluded with a smile.
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