As we continue to stay at home, penguins around the world are having a blast. They're meeting whales in the aquarium, roaming the streets of Cape Town, South Africa, and even getting their first art history lesson.
Penguins from the Kansas City Zoo recently paid a visit to the nearby Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, wandering the halls as they admired Baroque and Impressionist masterpieces.
The three Humboldt penguins examined paintings by the likes of Caravaggio and Monet, surprising the museum's director with their artistic tastes.
The director, Julián Zugazagoitia, told Insider he initially assumed his penguin visitors would be entranced by Monet's "Water Lilies."
"The reason we wanted to expose the penguins to the 'Water Lilies,' besides the fact that it's one of our favorite paintings, is that it's so calming and soothing," he said. "We thought maybe they would react to the soothingness of that painting, but they seemed to wander around and not particularly stop on that one."
Julián Zugazagoitia, the museum's director, told Insider he expected the penguins to be drawn to Monet's famous "Water Lilies."The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
But the penguins, it seems, are far bigger Baroque fans.
"I think they felt more comfortable there," Zugazagoitia said. "They seemed to spend more time there and look more intently. The room is much warmer, the walls are red, and there's a lot of action going on in the paintings."
"I don't know if the penguins were recognizing human figures and looking at that, as they like interacting with humans," he added. "Or maybe they just like the Old Masters more."
It turned out the penguins may be fans of Baroque.
The idea to bring penguins to the museum actually started as an April Fools' joke.
On April 1, Zugazagoitia called up Randy Wisthoff, the director of Kansas City Zoo, to ask about his plans for reopening during the coronavirus pandemic.
"All of Kansas City, especially the arts and nonprofits, is a very close-knit and friendly group," Zugazagoitia said. "So we're all talking to each other to coordinate how to reopen."
"I was calling him to see how operations were going and when they were thinking about reopening. Then, as a joke, I said, 'Hey, why don't you bring some of your penguins to the museum?'"
The penguins' caretakers followed closely behind as they waddled around the new and exciting space.
"I thought he'd think it was a crazy idea," Zugazagoitia added. "But he said, 'Of course, when do you want to do it?' So it went from silly banter with a friend to something possible and real."
Staff members from the zoo and the museum worked together to plan the visit.
"We were concerned first and foremost for the security of the birds and the art, and that's what determined what rooms were available," Zugazagoitia said.
Zugazagoitia said he was surprised to find that the penguins were quite similar to the museum's usual guests.
During the visit, the penguins' caretakers followed closely behind as they waddled around the new and exciting space.
And Zugazagoitia said he was surprised to find that the penguins were quite similar to the museum's usual guests.
"They reacted very much like our visitors, who wander around the rooms and look a little here and a little there," he said. "They say the average attention span of humans is eight to 10 seconds when you're looking in a very big museum, and I think the penguins were in that average. They were more anthropomorphic than I had expected them to be."
Since the penguins are Peruvian, Zugazagoitia spoke with them in Spanish as they explored the museum.
Since the penguins are Peruvian, Zugazagoitia spoke with them in Spanish as they explored the museum.
"I'm not an expert on the animal world," he said. "But seeing them was like, 'Oh my god, they're paying attention, they're curious.'"
The museum posted a video of the penguins' May 6 visit on YouTube, where it quickly racked up hundreds of thousands of views and even made international news.
"The greatest surprise was seeing the emails and comments from people saying how much they enjoyed it," Zugazagoitia said. "I think it's also a sign of the times, that it's good to be light and whimsical and have a little bit of fun."
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