During the COVID-19 lockdown in Cape Town South Africa, there were some penguins that beautifully violated the restrictions. They did not stay at home.
Recently, penguins of South Africa threw on their tuxedos for a day trip in Cape Town.
David Attenborough narrates a story of South Africa for Apple TV’s new documentary named The Year Earth Changed. In this documentary, he examines closely how nature responds to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. People mag. finds one of the episodes very cute.
In the mentioned episode of The Year Earth Changed, African penguins took the streets of Cape Town. These penguins found the streets of the after capital empty of humans due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
The film shows that the birds are waddling past closed cafes and quiet neighbourhoods, apparently liking having the rule of the roost for once.
Travellers typically come to Cape Town, South Africa to get a look at these penguins but instead, they only catch sight of the birds by the water.
Before the pandemic, these adorable penguins persistently waited until night time to do most of their wandering, however, the city’s COVID-19 lockdown brought a better opportunity for the birds, one they never realized could be possible. So they had more room to roam in the middle of the day.
As a result, penguin parents in South Africa were able to gather more food for their chicks. And in some parts, raise more baby penguins because of their new access to resources. This is just one of the extraordinary ways nature responded to the pandemic captured in The Year Earth Changed.
We can now see that 2020 wasn’t just a year for humans to change their lifestyle and adapt to the “new normal”. Nature, in this case, penguins of South Africa also found new ways of living.