When disaster strikes, the wildlife clinic at the Phillip Island Nature Park will be ready, equipped to deploy hundreds of tiny wool sweaters at a moment's notice.
Not tiny sweaters for people, but penguins -- knit by a group of volunteers that includes Alfred "Alfie" Date, who at 109 years of age is Australia's oldest man.
In the event of an oil spill near Phillip Island's 32,000 little penguins, wildlife clinic workers put oil-covered birds in sweaters to minimize the amount of oil they ingest while preening themselves. According to the Philip Island Penguin Foundation, the substance also matts the penguin's feathers. which both prevents it from regulating its temperature and reduces the animal's buoyancy in water." -taken from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/11/australias-oldest-man-sweaters-penguins-oil_n_6660962.html
2 comments:
I went to Phillip Island when I was living in Melbourne, Australia. The penguins are adorable. It's an amazing experience.
Stacy I think they are adorable too. How lucky you were to see them in thei. Natural habitat.
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