After almost 14 years at SeaWorld San Diego, I just learned something new: penguins don’t know how to swim instinctively. In the wild, chicks are left alone to learn, which means waiting for the first one to take a plunge or fall in. But here at SeaWorld the keepers actually give annual swim lessons to the chicks born during the November and December hatching season. In February, about a dozen Adelie, gentoo and macaroni juveniles were secluded inside the Penguin Encounter while their adult plumage grew in.

Macaroni, gentoo and Adelie penguins were in for a treat yesterday as SeaWorld San Diego bird keepers distributed 14 tons of river rocks throughout the Penguin Encounter.

Last week was “Rock Week” at SeaWorld San Diego and the aviculturists at the park’s Penguin Encounter celebrated. What may quite sound silly at first, “Rock Week” is actually one of the most important times of the year.

And Then There Were Three . . . . More!

SeaWorld San Diego, already home to more than 250 amazing penguins, has three more birds in its family. These Magellanic penguins hatched a little more than a month ago and are doing great in the Penguin Encounter's behind-the-scenes nursery.