[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT3OAWwkqsI]
Newsom and Jeremy absolutely love their new toy.
When their more mature friends are busy wooing the girls at the June Keyes Penguin Exhibit of the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, Calif., the two juvenile Magellanic penguins — too young for mating— were given an iPad for entertainment.
Zookeepers gave Newsom and Jeremy an iPad game app designed for cats, explaining in a blog post that the birds are as curious as cats and the idea of them following a virtual mouse on a screen was “too appealing to not try out.”
(More: Apple and Orangutans: Apes Found to be Enamored with iPads)
The penguins seem to be into it. The two birds happily pecked away at the virtual mouse that gives a squeak whenever it is hit. (Newsom is the current record holder with 1,600 points.)
The penguins aren’t the only animals who are proving adept at touchscreen video games. YouTube is full of cats playing Fruit Ninja and lizards playing Ant Crusher. In fact, tablets are proving so popular among animals that The Discovery Channel even went ahead and ranked the top 10 iPad apps for pets.
(More: Awww: Real Lizard Licks Virtual Ants Off a Smartphone Screen)