Are you a fan of Antarctica? Perhaps you''ve been curious about the secret life of that mysterious bird, the penguin? Well, from February, the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium is giving visitors a chance to get up close and personal with their penguin residents. Visitors to the aquarium in Pingtung can enter the penguins'' home and feed them fish, taking photos as a memento. Tickets are selling fast, with all the slots through March sold out already.

Penguins stretch out their necks, waiting to be fed. Getting surrounded by a flock of these sweet creatures is not an experience you can enjoy every day, but now they’re closer than the Antarctic. You can come within millimeters of them at Pingtung’s National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium.

Feeding the penguins was a new experience for visitors to the museum last year. After donning full protective gear, you can enter the penguins’ enclosure that is kept in sub-zero temperatures, and feed them a handful of frozen fish. You can take photos too. The experience has proved very popular, and this year it’s back, but only from February to June. Each day there are eight slots available and they’re snapped up within seconds.

Mao Chih-wei
Nat’l Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium
We’ve already sold all the tickets for February and March. We want visitors to be able to feel the penguins’ ecology, by actually going into their home.

There’s the toughest penguin on Earth, the Adelie penguin. Next is the Macaroni penguin, which has distinctive golden feathers around its neck. The Gentoo penguin sports a triangle of feathers protruding from its head, which make it look like it’s wearing earphones. Finally: The Chinstrap penguin with its little black ring under its chin. It’s the molting season right now, so visitors can admire the penguins’ unusual mid-molting appearance. Some penguins shiver while molting.

Tour guide
Nat’l Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium
There are screens at the side, for areas where they can molt. It’s the penguins’ molting season now. At this time their feathers are now water resistant, so they will get wet if they fall in the water. They also look different to other penguins. We’re afraid they’ll be attacked; we want them to be able to molt in peace.

When the experience is over, visitors can take a penguin feather home in a bottle. The aquarium has also launched an “Emergency Care under the Aurora” project. The science education scheme uses interactive games to give visitors a taste of the north and south poles.

These immersive experiences take the visitor on a journey through the unique ecological landscapes of the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as shedding light on the damage that climate change is doing to these beautiful places.