Penguins In Sweaters

Animal Tracks

An oil spill off the coast of the island could have spelled disaster for the penguin population if it wasn’t for a quick cleanup and recovery effort. But it was also the innovative thinking of some biologists that helped the affected penguins stay out of danger. It all came down to wearing wool sweaters.

It’s not that the fairy penguins were in any danger of becoming too cold – at least not initially. Rather, it was the act of wearing the sweaters that prevented many of them from dying because their new attire stopped the penguins from preening their oil-coated feathers. In other words, the sweaters acted as a barrier against ingesting the crude oil.

You have to see the pictures for this story. They are unbearably cute. It really is a penguin in a sweater.