A penguin at a Napier aquarium has become a household name after featuring on the habitat's "naughty board" in June.
A photo posted by the National Aquarium of New Zealand on their Facebook page, shows that Timmy the penguin was naughty penguin on for the month of June because he "stole fish" and apparently "pushed another penguin over."
The photo, shared on Facebook over 5000 times, has gathered 11,000 likes and over 5000 comments.
Behaviour that can get penguins on the 'naughty' board includes biting the keepers, harassing other birds "and pooping on people", which Timmy's keeper Rebecca says can happen quite frequently.
Rebecca says Timmy is normally "pretty chilled out, he just can be little eager to get to the food sometimes".
On the other hand, Betty was an extraordinarily good penguin the same month by "patiently waiting for fish" and for being a "good swimmer."
Snaps for Betty!
The aquarium is home to many penguins who have suffered a serious injury or have disabilities such as blindness or amputations. Rebecca says that "pretty much all of them are rescue birds unable to be released".
"They have on-going illnesses, or they're partially sighted. Three of them are missing a flipper".
The penguins serve not only as a fun source of entertainment, they also serve to remind the public of the dangers of polluting their environment, Rebecca says.
"One of the big things we remind the public of is not using helium filled balloons" she warns.
"They end up getting ingested by birds and sea turtles."
Newshub.
