It’s kind of hard to find someone out there who can’t appreciate penguins. Even if they’re not your favorite animal, they’re likely in the top five. So it’s nice that over in New Zealand, penguins are being recognized for being good and polite, as well as rude and crude. Here’s how.
The National Aquarium of New Zealand, also known as NANZ, has been giving away monthly awards to the penguin who has shown the most grace as well as the penguin who isn’t afraid to break the rules. The awards have notably been going viral thanks to writer and Twitter user Jonny Waistcoat, who’s been letting the world know about this super cute penguin community.
According to the NANZ website, their penguins often get a chance to interact with humans. Known as Little Penguins, they’re able to be hand-fed by guests for an additional fee. Little Penguins are extra special because they’re only found in New Zealand and South Australia.
The photos shared by Waistcoat aren’t up-close photos of the penguins acting out (which, bummer) but they do give you a good idea of what our little buddies are up to. It turns out that there’s a lot of theft and debauchery that takes place when they think nobody’s looking.
Here’s the original photo that Waistcoat shared:
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And here are a few additional awards given:
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Looks like Pepper never learned table manners. But, Pepper isn’t the only penguin who gets docked for poor eating habits.
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Mo actually steals food directly from the mouths of other penguins.
Meanwhile, Mr. Mac proves that swimming is actually a job requirement for penguins. He didn’t swim enough, and people noticed.
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Mo’s behavior didn’t improve as time went on. Not only did he steal fish, but he didn’t even eat them. He took them just for the pleasure of making the other penguins upset.
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This might be one of the funniest. Tux has a sick sense of humor, and hopefully, Timmy’s feelings aren’t hurt.
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The act might have caused Timmy to cross the dark side since he was named the naughtiest next.
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Still, it seems like nobody can even come close to Mo’s record.
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Really.
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Pretty soon, Mo buddied up with the newest addition, Burny. Burny started out with positivity, but quickly turned bad due to Mo’s influence.
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Seriously, these tweets are better than a daytime soap opera. Will Timmy ever reach the pier with little trouble? Will Burny realize that other penguins don’t like being pecked in the face? At least the world knows that he’s not as close to Mo as he used to be.
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This just proves that penguins are total characters. Their bad habits shouldn’t be copied, but they should definitely be appreciated.