We’ve all heard the phrase ‘you never know where you’ll find love,’ but what that love will look like will never cease to surprise us, it seems.
Earlier this year, news circulated widely of the unlikely love story between a penguin and the cardboard cutout of a Japanese anime character named Hululu. Later this week, Grape, who was 21-years old (equivalent of 80-years old in human years) died in Tobu Zoo in Saitama, north of Tokyo, Japan, with the object of his affection by his side.
The Humboldt penguin was given the cutout after his partner of 10 years, a female penguin named Midori, left him for a younger penguin. This was quite unusual in the penguin community since penguins are notorious for their monogamy and mating for life in the wild. When Midori left Grape, zoo keepers became concerned and worried that he would not last long since he began to distance himself from the other penguins and was more often seen walking alone afterwards.
When the cardboard cutout was placed in the penguin pen during an advertisement campaign, Grape was visibly fascinated. The character, who hails from the anime television show “Kimono Friends,” is a small girl dressed in a black and white dress, resembling a penguin, and she wears headphones. Grape began spending more and more time staring at the cardboard cutout and had to be separated for periods of time so that he could get on with his day, reported the Sunday Express.
The cutout was just one of sixty that were placed around the zoo during the campaign. The penguins feelings were confirmed when viewers saw his wings stretched out to the cutout, he was witnessed performing the Humboldt penguin mating ritual announcing he was ready to take their relationship to the next level.
When the penguin passed away at the end of the week, mourners poured in over social media to share their memories of the penguin who found true love a second time. Eri Nemoto, one of the zoo’s penguin caretaker said Grape’s death was not a sad occasion.
“We put the cardboard panel next to him to comfort him to the very end,” Nemoto said.
The penguin passed away on Thursday after suffering from a brief illness.
glennepps.com 