Senior Karlík Fell in Love Again

Karlík with his young partner. Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

Wow, what a sprightly senior our Karlík is! He celebrated his 30th birthday this February, which is really an impressive age for a Humboldt penguin. He is not only a doyen of our penguin group, but also the oldest individual in the entire history of their Prague breeding.

By the way, at the opportunity of Karlík’s birthday I mentioned a BBC news story on a recently deceased female of Humboldt penguin, who was supposed to be the oldest representative of the species in Europe. She lived to be 32 years old. However, when I looked at the photo of our senior in love and I saw the good condition he was in, I decided to check the question of penguin old men and women. It turns out that in fact the oldest Humboldt penguin is a male, who lives in Karlsruhe and is at least 47 years old. Forty-seven! He is almost blind, but his keepers adore him. They call him Blinduin.

But let’s get back to Karlík. His new partner is two and a half years old, so she is 28 years younger than Karlík. Or twelve times younger. Quite an age difference! By that Karlík surpasses even all Hollywood celebrities.

But that is not enough. Karlík is a father to 13 successfully bred chicks. He originally nested with a female Ema, who was after her death replaced by Silvestra. It is written about penguins, that they create bonded pairs, but Karlík lived a somewhat unconventional life. As Kuba Mezei told me, during his life with Silvestra he maintained a parallel sexual relationship with his own son Jágr, who is now 24. So, we had a triangle in Prague formed by Jágr—Karlík—Silvestra.

Karlík’s relationship with Jágr ended sometime at the turn of last and this year. Then, when Silvestra died in August, the keepers were worried that Karlík would not enter in a new relationship. Mistake. He got together with young Oblouček the very next day. Well, there is no time to waste.

I am really curious, what will happen next. Will Karlík further enrich his biography, or did he already sow his wild oats after turning thirty? We will see… Stay tuned.