It takes a village to raise a child — but apparently, all it takes is one penguin to create the village. Maryland Zoo’s “Mr. Greedy” died this week after fathering 230 penguins and helping rebuild the species’ population in zoos across North America, officials said in a news release.
At 33, “Mr. Greedy” was the oldest penguin at the zoo, well past the average lifespan of 18. He lived long enough to sire five generations of offspring through the zoo’s African Penguin Species Survival Plan.
“This one bird was incredibly important to the survival of African penguins around the world,” said Jen Kottyan, curator of birds at the Maryland Zoo. “It’s hard to lose an animal that has been such a welcome presence at our zoo for three decades, but we are all proud that he is survived by five generations of descendants.”
“Mr. Greedy” was paired with a female penguin, known as “Mrs. Greedy”, two years after their arrival at the zoo in 1992.
“They were already together when they reached childbearing age in 1994,” Kottyan said.
According to the zoo, this is a lifelong pair. They are closely monitoring “Mrs. Greedy’s” reaction and behavior after his death and will pair her with a male penguin if she shows interest in companionship.
Late last month, Sphen, one half of the world’s most famous gay penguin, died married couple, deceased in Australia, where he left his partner Magic behind. Aquarium staff said they took Magic to see Sphen’s body so he could understand that “his partner wasn’t coming back.”
Maryland Zoo said they are home to one of the largest colonies of African penguins in North America and have successfully bred more than 1,000 chicks. There are about 10,000 breeding pairs left in the world and the endangered African penguin is at risk of extinction by 2035.
