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Penguins make a love connection at aquarium

Posted at 6:36 PM, Feb 12, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-12 20:36:53-05
african penguin
African penguin (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO – Penguins made a love connection just in time for Valentine’s Day.

It has become an annual tradition at a San Francisco aquarium. Biologists hand out red felt hearts to African penguins at the California Academy of Sciences.

The birds grab the hearts in the beaks and waddle back to their nests.

It is often the male penguin who takes the heart and brings it back to his mate. The penguins use the felt for material in their nests, which helps reinforce the couples’ bonds a spokeswoman for the academy said.

The tradition is part of the academy’s captive breeding program to help boost the African penguin population which is endangered in the wild.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report)