Wild Side: Jordy the African penguin visits from Tanganyika Wildlife Park

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Tanganyika Wildlife Park Director Matt Fouts brought in Jordy, an African penguin, to Tanganyika Wildlife Park to KSN’s Wild Side Wednesday afternoon.

African penguins come from the southern tip of Africa.

“They are warm-weather penguins,” said Fouts. “They’re not cold weather penguins like people are used to seeing in the movies.”

Fouts says you can tell the penguins at Tanganyika apart from each other.

“What’s really kind of cool about them, I don’t know if you can really tell on her chest, but she has, like, different freckles,” said Fouts. “And so every African penguin has a unique pattern on the front of their chest, and so that’s one way that the keepers can tell them all apart when they’re feeding them and whatnot.”

Along with walking through the African penguin exhibit, you can also participate in feeding them once a day.

“We’re one of the only places in the world that I know of where you can swim with them ,” said Fouts. “They are endangered, so anything we can do to bring awareness and connect people to them, that’s definitely what we want to do.”

Tanganyika Wildlife Park is celebrating its sweet 16 with $16 admission from August 7 through 9. Click here for more details.

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