Friends of Lillico Penguins (FOLP) decided to start the guiding season on Friday 16 September 2022. If you are intending to visit have a quick look at the viewing guidelines and the penguin brochure - available in various languages and for English just scroll past the language links:)
Remember no flash photography and if you bring a torch only use red light torches! Any other light will alert/scare/panic them, meaning they will regurgitate food from their crop, and the chicks will miss their meal that night!
THE CROP?
The crop is a pouch-like enlargement of a penguin's (any bird's!) esophagus. It is located at the base of the neck, between the jaw and the breast muscle. The crop functions to store and moisten food, and can hold a large volume. Food from the crop is gradually passed into the stomach throughout the day. The crop also stores food to be regurgitated to feed baby birds or the bird's mate, during nesting.
WHY RED TORCHES?
Why are red lights ok when viewing penguins? Humans have three types of 'cone-cells' which have peak sensitivity to blue light (S-cones), green light (M-cones) and red light (L-cones). It is our red-sensitive L-cones that allow us to see red. Penguin eyes, like most nocturnal animals, do not have L-cones which means they are oblivious when we illuminate them using red light, similar to infrared TV remotes or UV light from the sun which us humans cannot see because we have no cones to see those spectrums, no matter how bright the sun shines or how well the remote works :)
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