West Briton (Falmouth, Penryn, Helston, The Lizard)
Britain’s oldest penguin enjoys 35th birthday
BRITAIN’S oldest penguin has celebrated her 35th birthday – with a fish themed cake. Paradise Park in Hayle celebrated Spneb’s big day on Sunday, April 16.
Spneb is the oldest Humboldt’s penguin in the UK and one of 20 kept at the park.
At 35, the elderly penguin is over twice the age of a Humboldt’s penguin’s life expectancy, which ranges between 10 to 15 years.
Her unusual name was picked by keepers after she underwent treatment for a dangerous fungal disease called Aspergillosis in 2007.
At the time she was being treated with a drug ‘Sp’ using a nebuliser, or a ‘neb’ – eventually giving her the unusual name.
The amazing cake, seen in pictures with the penguin, was created by her proud keeper Archie who also features in a video congratulating Spneb on her birthday.
Archie said: “Not only are we celebrating Paradise Park’s 50th birthday this week, we’re also celebrating Spneb’s 35th birthday today – so we’ve made her a brand new birthday cake to celebrate her special day.
Typically out in the wild Humboldt’s Penguins only live to about 10 to 15 years old, but Spneb has reached an amazing 35 years old – more than double her life expectancy.
“We hope that she’s going to live much, much longer as well because she’s still very healthy.
“She does look a little bit dirtier than the rest of the penguins, but that just comes with her old age.
“She has not been able to go through her molting in the last few years – but amazingly even just last year she was still producing eggs.”
You can take a look at Spneb and the other penguins through Paradise Park’s live penguin cam at paradisepark.org.uk/events-and-news/ penguin-webcam