Drusillas Park names new penguins after Brighton and Hove Albion footballers
The zoo has welcomed a squad of 10 new Humboldt penguins
Last updated 10th Jul 2023
A zoo in Sussex has welcomed a squad of 10 new Humboldt penguins and named them after Brighton and Hove Albion players to celebrate the team’s record-breaking season.
After the Seagulls finished 6th in the Premier League and qualified to play in the Europa League for the first time, Drusillas Park Zoo couldn’t resist calling their new penguin posse after some of the side’s stars.
A waddle of 7 penguin pals from Woodside Zoo Lincoln, and 3 from Twycross Zoo, were ‘transferred’ to team Drusillas, and keepers are delighted with how well they’ve settled in.
The new penguin gang has been named: De Zerbi, Steele, Webster, Enciso, Dunk, March, Gross, Mitoma, Veltman, and Ferguson to honour some of the Albion’s players of the season.
And, to welcome the new penguin players officially, Drusillas invited Brighton’s very own mascot, Gully, to the zoo to meet the team’s namesakes and fling them some fish in a specially arranged penguin experience.
No squad would be complete without a captain or goalkeeper, so Lewis Dunk and Jason Steele get their very own penguin namesakes, and the Zoo also wanted to give a shout-out to local boy Solly March, who joined the Seagulls from Lewes in 2011.
Fan favourites Evan Ferguson, Kaoru Mitoma, Adam Webster, and Pascal Gross each have one of these beautiful birds named after them too, as a big congratulations on being a key part of the Brighton team’s incredible success story.
Visitor Services Manager, Carla Lee, who put the idea forward commented: “Lots of the staff at Drusillas and many of our visitors are huge fans of Brighton and Hove FC, so it’s brilliant to be able to celebrate the Seagull's success in such a special way. We’ve already got some ‘mystic meerkats’ who have had a lot of success in predicting the winners of England games in the last few years, and now we’ve got our very own penguin football team!”
Senior Keeper, Jacinta Dawe, commented: “As with any transfer, integrating new ‘players’ into a squad doesn’t always run smoothly. It’s always a bit of a nervous time when you’re introducing new animals to each other. Especially when you’re adding 10 birds, to an existing colony of 5, anything could happen! But we were very fortunate that due to careful planning by the whole team, we haven’t had a single problem.”
Jacinta continued: “When the penguins first arrived, we kept them in an off-show area, where we could observe them, give them a feed, and let them have a nice long sleep. The next morning, we brought them down to the main pool in their boxes and let them come out at their own pace. They got in the water straight away and started preening themselves which was incredibly positive to see. Very quickly we’ve formed a new flock of penguins, and we’re all very happy with how it’s gone.”