In the wild the average lifespan for the Little Blue Penguin is 6.5 years. In truly exceptional cases these penguins have been recorded as living up to 25 years of age in captivity. That’s why we were so excited to celebrate Tubby’s 21^st birthday on the 20^th of January.

It was a fantastic day – we had a big crowd of visitors join the party with many enjoying the giveaways and special presentations on the day.

Tubby originally hatched in Napier’s Marineland and, after this was closed, was then transferred down here. Now, surrounded by his friends at the International Antarctic Centre’s penguin rescue colony, Tubby has a reached a very mature age of 21. So it was both a ‘coming of age’ event and a ‘celebration of life’ one too.

We were lucky too that the party coincided with another important event in our calendar – the international Penguin Awareness Day.

As far as we’re concerned, all of our penguins are VIPs. But it was good to give Tubby and his friends a bit of special treatment on the day. Thanks to all who came to share in the celebration!

Watch his birthday song here>

Photos below: The Sepcial 21st invite & Bernie on his way to the party