In early October 2023, Wildlife Care Keepers noticed 24-year-old male penguin Flap not his usual self when they started their shift in the morning. Flap was lying on his belly with his back legs sticking out. This is not unusual if they are resting, however, it appeared that he may be paralyzed as both his legs and feet were completely immobile.
This was a very heartbreaking and concerning discovery, especially as it appeared to have come unexpectedly with no preemptive symptoms or observed physical trauma. While Flap is an older penguin, with their lifespan being up to 30 years in human care, he did not have any prior health concerns, major or minor, before this.
Your Toronto Zoo Veterinary team quickly got to work running tests including bloodwork and x-rays, however, to their surprise the results were coming back normal. They also began doing research on similar cases in penguins in other institutions to help solve this medical mystery. Two cases were found that appeared identical to what Flap was experiencing, and all three are in male penguins between 17-26. While the team prepared for the worst, they learned one case had a limp for the rest of his life but survived and rejoined the penguin colony, living for years. This gave the Wildlife Health and Wildlife Care teams a glimmer of hope that Flap may recover if they followed a similar treatment plan.
A long-term care plan was thoroughly researched and formulated for Flap which would involve both intense medication and physiotherapy. The Veterinary team reviewed canine physical rehabilitation and human physio exercises to come up with adapted exercises for him.
Physiotherapy is not a common activity for a penguin, let alone Flap who historically was not fond of extensive human contact and not overly friendly with his Keepers, even when the fish bucket was involved. This added another layer of complexity Keepers questioned may impact his recovery.
Despite this, he began physiotherapy sessions twice a day which involved a lot of moving his legs in a bicycle motion. The Keeper team also created a special harness for him to help him move different muscles and walk. He was also offered lots of supervised swim time to take the weight off his back/joints, while the team helped him get in and out of the water.
To their surprise and delight, Keepers describe him as having a noticeably confident, “I can do this” attitude during his physiotherapy sessions, very different from the initial concern he that would not choose to participate in these voluntary training sessions at all.
During this time, Flap was in a smaller area separate from the flock as penguins will sometimes pick on ill or lower-ranking members of the group, but he didn’t seem to mind the separation, and he was eventually allowed 1-2 other penguins in for little visits with him.
After Flap’s physiotherapy began, Keepers noticed a remarkable difference in his ability to move/walk. He has been amazing to work with, never showing any signs of giving up. During his recovery, he’s maintained a great appetite, swims like a champ and continues to fight the battle, one of which still remains somewhat of a mystery to the Wildlife Health team.
In terms of diagnosis, all tests continued to come back normal, and we cannot be certain as to what caused this in Flap. Based on this, they have written a protocol and treatment plan based on Flap to potentially share if other institutions continue to see similar issues in their African penguin colonies.
There was a lot of progression in Flap’s mobility, however, he did appear to hit plateaus during this three-month journey that is still ongoing. But as of early January, he has gotten so much stronger and was up to taking 20-30 steps on his own without assistance. He is also now venturing from his separate area in the habitat to visit the flock and swim in the big pool with them.
The team cannot say for certain how Flap’s story will continue, and we are certainly not out of the woods. He may never make a 100% recovery and plateau or relapse, but as long as he is making progress, the team will continue to work with him every day and make modifications to his habitat, diet, and behavioural husbandry to support him.
Of the 18 penguin species around the world, the African penguin is one of the most endangered, which makes every individual important. The current population size in the wild for the African penguin is less than half of what it was 40 years ago, which equals only 3 generations of penguins. Factors still affecting their decline include lack of food (due to climate change and over-fishing), disease, predation, and pollution mainly due to oil spills. Today, there are fewer than 20,000 breeding pairs left in South Africa. As well participating in the African Penguin Species Survival Plan, the Toronto Zoo Wildlife Conservancy’s Wilding Endangered Species Preservation Fund proudly partners with the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), furthering your Toronto Zoo's worldwide conservation impact in-situ:
We are so proud of Flap who has come so far since October, and the Wildlife Care and Wildlife Health team has kept him under their watchful eye since.
“Not once has he given up or shown Keepers any signs of losing this fight!”