Penguins at Asahiyama Zoo in northern Japan’s Hokkaido waddled through the snow during a “rehearsal” on Dec. 11, ahead of the start of their daily winter strolls running through mid-March.
During the rehearsal, 15 king penguins teetered and tottered along a 500-meter-long snow-covered path.
Grace Lin, a visitor from Singapore, remarked that it was her first time watching penguins from such a close distance.
The strolls are aimed at helping to keep the birds fit during winter, taking advantage of penguins’ habit of walking in groups to look for food, zookeepers said.
“We hope this would help spur deeper interest in penguins,” said Chiharu Tanaka, a staff member at Asahiyama.
The “penguin walk” event, a popular attraction among zoo visitors, runs daily from Dec. 12 until the season ends around mid-March.
Penguins walk along a snow-covered path at Asahiyama Zoo in Asahikawa on the northernmost Japanese main island of Hokkaido on Dec. 11, 2024. (Kyodo)
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AloJapan.com