An albino penguin born in a zoo in the Polish city of Gdańsk – the only one of its kind kept in captivity in the world – has been chosen as penguin of the year in an international contest.
Five-year-old female African penguin Kokosanka won almost 83% of public votes cast in the final round of March Of The Penguin Madness, an annual contest organised by Penguins International, an organisation committed to preserving and protecting penguins.
As a reward for her success, Kokosanka was presented by staff at her zoo with a cake made from herring caught in the nearby Baltic Sea, her favourite snack.
When Kokosanka hatched in Gdańsk in December 2018, her birth was initially kept a secret. Her carers feared that her albinism would mean she had poor health or that she would be rejected by her parents and other penguins.
Although Kokosanka was indeed initially rejected by her parents, with the support of her keepers she has grown into a healthy adult, well integrated with the other 84 penguins living at the zoo on Poland’s northern Baltic coast.
She has also become an informal face of Gdańsk Zoo, which offers Kokosanka-themed merchandise to its visitors.
Colombia confirmed the first case of an albino ocelot, after carrying out genetic tests on a feline with white fur and red eyes.
The ocelot was found as a kitten, weighing just 440 grams, in the rural zone of Amalfi and was first thought to be a puma jaguarundi.
Medellin's Conservation Park undertook genetic testing on the animal, concluding it was actually a leopardus pardalis, a native species of ocelot that is found all across the Americas.
At first I had thought that Rudolph was strapped in to the front of the sleigh, but then I noticed his hind legs were being supported. It's a mobility aid! So clever!
That's right! This is rudolph's self contained unit that allows him to move around on the snow. When he visits sunny climates, he switches the sled out for wheels.
The front part of the harness and the wooden sled shape is based on traditional sami sled gear, with the supports carefully based off goat wheelchairs.
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Here's a breakdown of how it works engineering-wise. The goal was to make something that he could get in and out of on his own, like most people who use wheelchairs. The only hand-wave is to give his mouth magic knot-tying abilities that typical cartoon animals tend to have.
While most goat chairs use dog harnesses (including a connection between collar and cinch like a horse breastcollar) reindeer's main point of pulling is the collar. There are two straps on either side of a somewhat stiff collar that serves the same purpose as a yoke for draft animals. They can push forward with their shoulders into the collar and drag their burden without putting weight on their trachea, nor pulling too much with the cinch.
Rudolph simply slips into the collar and buckles his cinch around his ribs, then he is ready for the chair.
Here's what the sled looks like without Rudolph in it. He puts his legs through the two leg support straps, and rests his hocks on the padded bar. His belly is supported by a wide, soft strap that bears the weight of his back end. There is an optional seatbelt that goes over his rump if he knows he's going to be going at high speeds. For short walks, he can leave it off. This makes getting in and out of his sleigh easier.
Here's all the pieces assembled together! I'll probably add some crossbeams under his back legs for stability. It was really challenging to blend modern animal wheelchairs with traditional sleigh construction (including rope ties rather than buckles) but in the end we have a cute, believable mobility aid for the most famous reindeer of all.
Here's Little Ru, ready for a casual walk in the snow.