Penguin Beach

Location: London, England
Address:  Regent's Park
Date: September 2015
Website:  www.zsl.org

  The penguins at the London Zoo were faced with a problem in 2004.  They could no longer stay in their old penguin pool and as a result needed a new home.  They were housed in many places including the sister zoo, Whipsnade Zoo.  Finally in 2011 Penguin Beach opened.

    The penguins now reside in the biggest penguin pool in England.  The pool holds 450,000 litres of water.

  The exhibit is filled with a colony of Humboldt penguins.  Humboldt penguins are found in South America along the coasts of Chile and Peru.  One distinguishing feature to tell them apart from other penguin species is the pinky area between their beak and their eye.

  There is a large group of penguins living at Penguin Beach.  

  At one end of the enclosure were many nests where breeding pairs of penguins can do their part to further increase the population.  Humboldt penguins usually lay up to three eggs twice a year.

  One lonely bachelor was Ricky the rockhopper penguin.  He can be recognized by the long yellow feathers on his head.  Ricky was the only non-Humboldt penguin in the pool and seemed to really like attention.  He was there when we visited in 2015 but he has since moved to Whipsnade Zoo to join a group of other rockhoppers.  We will see if his personality can still stand out surrounded by similar penguins.

  Feeding time at Penguin Beach draws quite a crowd.  The penguins line up to be fed fish from a bucket or fight for the fish thrown into the pool.

  As well as other penguins competing for food, the penguins have to look out for local intruders.  Seagulls swoop down at the pool to try and get some fish scraps.  A grey heron stood motionless waiting for its chance to do the same.  We saw grey herons stealing food from a group of Asian small-clawed otters later in the day.

  Penguins are always entertaining.  We could watch them walk around and swim all day.  Penguin Beach is a great place to do just that.

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Map of Our World
London Zoo (Penguin Beach)

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Post # 244

Lubetkin Penguin Pool

Location: London, England
Address:  Regent's Park
Date: September 2015
Website:  www.zsl.org

  In 1934, London Zoo opened its famous spiral-ramped Penguin Pool.  The pool was designed by Berthold Lubetkin who worked for an architectural firm called Tecton.  It is one of the first uses of reinforced concrete and is a grade I listed structure in England.  A grade I listing is reserved for buildings of exceptional interest.

  The movie About a Boy was released in 2002.  In the movie there is a small scene where Will (Hugh Grant) and Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) visit the zoo.  As they have their discussion they walk past the Penguin Pool.  There are still penguins in the enclosure as they did not leave until 2004.

   We saw a few reasons for the penguins moving out of the pool.  One said that they were contracting bumblefoot due to walking on concrete.  Bumblefoot is a bacterial infection on the feet of birds.  Some people say there was originally rubber over the concrete and it should be put back.  We also read they were moved to a duck pond during some repairs and seemed to really enjoy their new location.  Another lesser believed theory was based on the popularity of the About A Boy movie and the inclusion of the pool in the film.  It was said that the pool attracted too many Hugh Grant fans and the penguins requested to move to a new location where people came just to see them.  Who knows?  At any rate you can now visit the London Zoo and see the old exhibit which sits empty.  You can also see the colony of penguins who are happily living in a new area of the zoo called Penguin Beach.

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Map of Our World
ZSL London Zoo (Lubetkin Penguin Pool)

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Post # 243

Pizza & Bears On Kingston Road

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 1054 Kingston Road
Date: August 2018
Website:  www.uber5000.com

  Uber 5000 is a graffiti artist who calls Toronto home.  One building which is covered in his characters is a Pizza Pizza on Kingston Road.  We took a walk one day and visited this pizza place and some other art in the area.

  One character that seems to appear on almost everything Uber 5000 has done is the little yellow chick.  The Pizza Pizza is no exception as we counted at least a couple of dozen.

  Cats are also a favourite.  This cat above looks to be riding a red magic carpet along the wall.

  Another cat is holding a ghetto blaster and wearing a chain that is part of the building's gas piping.

  The back of the building is filled with a giant green octopus.

  In a doorway on the side of the building are more yellow chicks and a city of Toronto logo.  This makes us think the artwork was commissioned by the city.

  We enjoyed the playful and colourful display but we needed to get on our way.  We headed further west on Kingston Road.

  We hadn't gone too far when we noticed a swan painted up on a rooftop.  From the tag we determined this was from an artist called Half Decent.  Not half bad we thought.

  We walked another block or so and came to Scarborough Road.  Here there was a nice mural of a brown bear beside a waterfall.  It was on the wall of Dashwood & Dashwood law firm.

  The wall faces the patio area of a small restaurant called The Loop.

  Around the side of The Loop was more artwork.  This time it was a toucan balancing a beer on his beak and suggesting it would be a lovely day for a Guinness.  We looked behind us and were surprised by what we saw.

  Uber 5000 had struck again.  The utility box on the corner was covered with the same cats and chicks from the Pizza Pizza building.  Thanks again Uber 5000.

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Map of Our World
The Loop
Pizza Pizza (Uber 5000) , Half Decent Swan , Dashwood Bear Mural

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Post # 242