Daisy and the Trouble with Zoos (10 page)

I said if they liked fruit, they were bound to like strawberry
Hubba Bubba, but Mum gave me one of her looks and said if we couldn't control our sweets, then we would have to put them in her handbag for safekeeping.

Then she looked at her watch.

IT WAS TIME TO FEED THE PENGUINS!

My heart was beating really fast when we arrived at the penguin house. Mum said hers was too, but that was because she isn't used to running.

When we got there, a zoo man in a brown uniform with a zoo badge on it was waiting for us by the gate.

“Are you Daisy?” he asked.

“Yes!” said my mum, pointing to me. “Sorry we're late!”

“That's fine,” said the zoo man. “My name's Tim. Happy birthday, Daisy! Would you like to feed
the penguins?”

“YES, PLEASE!” I said.

“Then come with me,” said Tim, “and I'll introduce you to Tiffany.”

I thought Tiffany was going to be the penguin leader. But she wasn't. She was a zoo lady. Tiffany had a brown uniform with a zoo badge too, plus she was wearing Wellingtons. That's because everyone who's an expert on penguins wears Wellingtons.

Mum asked me if I wanted her to come with me, but I said no because she wasn't wearing Wellingtons.

The
trouble with not wearing Wellingtons
is penguins won't really like you.

So I told Mum it would probably be better if she went to sit with Gabby and Dylan. You can still watch penguins being fed if you haven't got Wellingtons, and they will still like you a bit. But not as much, because they're only liking you through the glass.

Mum took Gabby and Dylan into the bit behind the glass where they could sit and watch me and the penguins, and then Tiffany held my hand.

Then my heart started beating EVEN FASTER because I was actually going in!

Right in!! Into the penguin house. With the actual penguins!!!!!!!

First of all we went down a slope, then up a bit to a gate that had two padlocks and two bolts on it. Tiffany undid the padlocks and then opened the gate. I couldn't see any penguins at first because
Tiffany's zoo shirt was in the way. But when we walked right inside through the gate, there were penguins all over the place!

Plus there was a baby penguin too!

The
trouble with baby penguins
is they can't really do very much. Except sort of stand still.

Tiffany said that baby penguins don't get their proper feathers until they are about six months old, which means they can't swim around like their mummies and daddies can.

Mummy and daddy penguins have
special swimming feathers that keep water out and stop them getting soggy. Baby penguins don't have proper feathers at all. All baby penguins have is fluff.

Which doesn't keep water out.

But it does make them look reeeeaaaaallly cute.

Tiffany knew loads about penguins. When she was opening the penguin cupboard, she said there were eighteen different types of penguin in the world. Not including the chocolate biscuit ones.

The ones we were going to feed were called Humboldt penguins.
Which isn't a very good name for a type of penguin, I think.

Plus it's really hard to spell.

Anyway, when the mummy and daddy penguins saw Tiffany open
the cupboard, they started jumping off the rocks and diving into the pool. Then they started zooming through the water and doing sort of sideways roly-polys.

Tiffany said they looked really hungry, and then she asked me if I was any good at throwing fish.

I said I was really good, which was a bit of a fib because I'd never thrown a fish before. I'd thrown tennis balls and frisbees in the park, and I threw a stone at school once, but I got told off for doing that.

Anyway, I just knew I'd be really good at throwing fish.

Then I saw Mum through the glass on the other side of the pool! And Gabby and Dylan! They were sitting in the middle of a huge crowd of people and they were waving.

I waved back, and then my mum got her camera out to take a picture.

The
trouble with saying “cheese” when you're about to feed the penguins
is you can't really.

Otherwise the penguins might think you're going to feed them cheese and not fish. Penguins don't like cheese. It's not fishy enough.

The only thing that's fishy enough for penguins is actual fish.

The
trouble with saying “fish” when you're having your photo taken
is it makes your lips look funny. Which spoils the picture.

So I didn't say anything. I just smiled at my mum's camera instead. And waved.

Then Tiffany brought me a bucket! Not a red plastic bucket like our one at home, but a proper zoo bucket made especially for penguins out of real metal.

“Here you go, Daisy!” said Tiffany. “Make sure they all get their fair share!”

Then I looked inside the bucket.

Well, you should have seen how many fish there were inside! There were dead fish right up to the top!

At first I thought they were alive fish in the bucket, but they weren't. They were all dead and silver with red eyes. That's just how penguins like them.