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Knitters Unite: Adorable Australian Penguins Need Tiny Sweaters
By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 6, 2014
Modified Mar 6, 2014
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 6, 2014
Modified Mar 6, 2014
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By now, we all know that time is a flat circle, that everything we've ever done or will do we're gonna do over and over and over again. Three years ago, a call was sent out to knitters around the world after a New Zealand oil spill had left cute little penguins in need of warmth and protection. And this week, that call for penguin sweaters is going out once more.
According to the Guardian, Phillip Island's Penguin Foundation conservation group is asking for people to donate small knitted jumpers for penguins. Because penguins are losing their WATERPROOFNESS: "If somebody puts oil into the sea…a little penguin swimming along pops up to the surface and finds out he’s come up in a circle of yukky stuff,” said Lyn Blom of the Penguin Foundation. "The first thing he wants to do is get to shore because he loses all of his waterproofness."
The Foundation has a nifty updated 2014 guide [PDF] to help you with the sizes (spoiler alert: they're TINY). Keep in mind that there is some dispute in the penguin community over the effectiveness of the sweaters—while many sweaters have been collected and used to warm up penguins and keep them from pecking at oil on their bodies, some experts have said that it is "only going to stress it out even more than they already are."
Indeed, when the call for penguin sweaters went out in 2011, most of those sweaters never actually went on a live penguin. We've contacted Penguin Foundation to get more information about how many sweaters they need and how they'll be used (some leftover sweaters have previously gone on stuffed penguins and been used to raise money for charities; the Penguin Foundation also distributes the jumpers to other wildlife rescue groups where needed).
If you would rather stay out of the sweater area, or aren't too good with needles and threads, you can always donate by adopting-a-penguin. Enjoy the most sweater-conscious song in history while you decide.
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australia
knitting
penguin jumpers
penguins
sweaters
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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