A few weeks ago, I had the amazing experience of walking with the penguins in a massive reserve (Punta Tombo) in the Patagonia of Argentina. Now...keep in mind that I went to see sand & surf penguins. They are fair-weathered and migrate to Brazil in the winter to stay warm. These little guys are very friendly and would let you come right up to them to say "hello". However, I ran into one in particular, we'll call him Gus, (please see right and don't be fooled by his innocence) who just wasn't in the mood.
Let me tell how it all happened......
The tour guide started out with some basic rules of the reserve. 1) Penguins always have the right of way. Because it's their nesting time of the year, they are moving back and forth from the ocean to gather food for their young. Thus, if a penguin crossed our path, we needed to give it the right of way. Perfect...no problem... 2) Do not touch the penguins because first of all the oil from our skin and products could damage their waterproof feathers and second they bite and don't let go. Hmmm...got it...do not want to get bit by a penguin. Duly noted.
So we took off. Everything is going well...we are walking among thousands of penguins and guanacos (emu-type wild animal), I'm giving right of way to them, they smile for my camera. No problem.
Then...Gus crossed my path. (Please note that on this particular day I was dressed in none other than black and white.) So there I am stopped in my tracks to allow Gus to pass. Gus starts across the path and then stops. He looks at me. He waddles closer. He stops. He continues closer. I am, of course, very excited that he has taken such an interest in me when all of sudden he is right next to me biting my leg. He then quickly retreats and goes on his way. I think that he thought that I was a giant penguin and wanted to establish his territory. I must not have been too much of a threat, though, because he let go right away and continued on. Thank goodness.
Maybe he was just having a bad day?
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