Watch the video of – Lala a king penguin, grocery shopping in Japan.
Most of us love animals and pets, be it cats, dogs, hamsters, birds, fish, etc. But have you ever heard of a pet “king penguin”?
If not, then meet Lala, a king penguin from Antarctica, who found his way to the hot and humid town of Shibushi in Japan and lived the rest of his life with his human family.
SIMILAR: Read about Dindim, a magellanic penguin who swims 5,000 miles every year to meet his savior.
Wondering how and why did Lala leave the cold conditions of the South Pole and move to Japan?
The story goes that when Japanese fishermen went for fishing expeditions near the South Pole and Antarctica in 1986, Lala was caught in the fishing net with an injured wing and beak.
The fishermen felt sad for the bird and kept him on the boat, as they were far away from the bird’s home and didn’t want him to end up as a meal for the sharks.
A construction manager from Shibushi named Yukio Mishimoto was friends with one of the fishermen.
And he would keep making jokes about bringing back a penguin from the South Pole, as shared by My Modern Met.
That joke, surprisingly, turned into a reality when the fisherman brought Lala to Japan.
Lala was then given to the Mishimoto family, who cared for him until he recovered and became a member of the family of four.
To ensure that Lala would be comfortable in the heat of Shibushi, the Mishimotos took good care of the bird by creating a special air-conditioned room for him.
Lala was also taught by the family to go fish shopping every day, as reported by the Bored Panda.
The bird would leave his house with a Pingu backpack and waddle across the town, stopping at the local market to eat freshly caught fish, which was served to him by the fish vendors.
Their neighbors were also fond of the bird and loved petting and caring for him every day. Some of them even sprayed him with water to help him cool off from the heat.
You can see Lala’s cute fish shopping video and a short documentary from 1996 on YouTube by scrolling down.
Lala’s mini-documentary has gained worldwide popularity on social media due to the sharing of its clips on several platforms.
The bird is no longer with us and he died in 1998 at the age of twelve.
Despite being taken from his natural habitat by humans, he was loved and made to feel at home by some kind people.
