‘The Gherkin’ to become ‘The Penguin’

I have just come across the most fantastic news story… I think it might be a bit of a publicity stunt, but the concept is just wonderful… apparently, and at least according to The Zoological Society of London (who happen to own London Zoo), there are plans to transform the City’s iconic Gherkin building to ‘The Penguin’.

In a bid to ensure that Londoners and those visiting for the Games dont miss out on the chance to visit London Zoo’s Humbolt Penguins, The ZSL have commissioned a production team to draw up a dramatic redesign of the famed skyscraper. You can read more about this here.

The images, revealed today, show London’s landmarks eclipsed by an enormous Humboldt penguin.

And for those of you Oxford based with Penguin obsession, you dont even have to go to London. The deliciously bonkers Cotswold Wildlife Park (think stately home with a Rhino wandering about the front lawn and find it here) have a collection of adorable penguins! You can even watch them being fed (at 11.00am and 16.00pm (15.00pm in winter months).). The best bit about these happy chaps is that you dont even have to leave the privacy of your own home thanks to their clever webcam tingymabob… And please don’t forget to say hello to the one who answers to the name of Pontius. He belongs to my mother…

However, don’t forget to afford them some privacy… despite Penguins remaining faithful to one partner and also return to the same breeding site year after year, they also have some pretty weird (well at least by Edwardian standards) habits and predilections: Accounts of unusual sexual activities among penguins, observed a century ago by a member of Captain Scott’s polar team, have just been made public. Acts that Dr Levick considered “depraved” were recorded during Scott’s ill-fated Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole in 1910. You can follow this story here.

Levick was obviously a loony himself (nothwishstanding his desire to spend years in a frozen wasteland watching penguins…) he then decided, in his infinite wisdom, to record their “perverted” activities in Greek in his notebook. Obviously Penguins don’t read Greek.

Let’s just hope the new Penguin Tower does not try to mate with The Shard… that would be painful.