Penguins: Journal Companion Episode

Come listen to the audio companion episode of your journal and learn all about Penguins! Penguins are awesome - and so is Patience, who led the group at the Aquarium when a hurricane hit and they had to fly on a jet across the country twice! Learn cool facts about penguins and hear Patience's very exciting journey that ends with a jazz band performance! 

Transcript

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Oh, hello scores. Welcome back to Animal Rescue Adventures journal podcast companion. I'm Steph, and today we have one of the most dramatic, most exciting, most unbelievable rescue stories we have ever told. It involves a hurricane, penguin impatience, and a jazz band. Yep, you heard me. Are you ready for this? Then let's go! Before we get to the drama, let's meet the star. Penguins, and I promise, these facts are going to blow your little explorer mind. Penguins look like they're wearing tuxedos, and that black and white coloring is actually camouflage. From above, they blend with dark water. From below, they look like the bright sky. Sneaky. Penguins cannot fly. But in water, they zoom up to 25 miles per hour faster than most people can run. Male penguins propose to females by finding the most perfect pebble they can and presenting it. If she takes the pebble, they're a couple. Each penguin has a unique song, like a fingerprint for their voice. Penguin parents and chicks find each other in huge noisy crowds just by their voice. African penguins are endangered. Their population has dropped 70% in just 30 years. Okay now. The story. Sit down, explorers, because this is a lot. The year is 2005. The place is New Orleans, Louisiana. Patience is a 24-year-old African penguin and the oldest, wisest member of the penguin colony at the Audubon Aquarium in the Americas. She's basically the penguin in charge, the grandmother of the whole group. Then on August 29th, Hurricane Katrina hits one of the most powerful, most destructive storms ever to hit the United States. The power goes out in the aquarium, the lights go dark, and in the hot, humid Louisiana summer, the temperatures begin to rise. Now penguins cannot survive in extreme heat. With no power and no relief in sight, the penguin keeper Tom faced an impossible seamy mission. Get all 19 penguins into carriers, navigate through a flooded, storm-ravaged city, and get them somewhere fast. Tom did it. He packed up patience and all of her penguin friends. He drove through the flooded streets of New Orleans. He got them to Baton Rouge, where they boarded a plane and flew all the way across the country to the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. Tom had to leave them there and go back to help with hurricane relief. The penguins were thousands of miles from home without their favorite human in a strange place. And who was the steady, calm presence in the middle of all that uncertainty? Patience, just like her name. For nine long months, the penguins lived in California while the Audubon aquarium was repaired. And then finally, they were loaded onto a FedEx jet and flown back to New Orleans. When those penguins waddled off that plane back into their home, a jazz band was waiting on the tarmac and played when the Saints Go Marching In. I'm not making that up. A jazz band. For penguins, welcoming home patients. African penguins like patients are endangered, which means there aren't many left and they need your help. Here's your penguin mission. Reduce plastic waste. Ocean pollution is one of the biggest threats to penguins and all marine life. Choose sustainably sourced seafood when your family buys fish. Overfishing takes away penguins' food. Learn about climate change. Warming oceans and melting ice directly harm penguin habitats. Talk to your family about ways you can help. Patience waited through a hurricane, a cross-country journey nine months away from home, and she never gave up. And neither did the humans who loved her. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is exactly what her name says. Be patient, be steady, keep going, and trust that the jazz band is waiting. I'm Steph. This is Animal Rescue Adventures. Keep exploring, keep caring, and see you next time.