With summer right around the corner, many are dreading the thought of stepping onto a scale. However, the cool penguins at SeaWorld Orlando are eagerly lining up to watch their weight. The aviculturist team took up the unprecedented challenge of training king penguins to patiently stand in line and step onto a scale, one after another. This behavior recently earned the Aviculture Department the "Husbandry Behavior of the Year Award" at this year's International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators conference in spring.

Obtaining a penguin's weight is important because it is an indicator of their overall health and condition. In February 2006, the aviculturists team began training king penguins to weigh themselves, a task that had been no easy "feet" in the past due to the penguins large size (weighing up to 40 pounds) and strong flippers.

In an effort to make the weigh-in process easier, the aviculturist team worked diligently around the clock on the new training procedure that included many elements, such as a portable scale introduced in the penguin's snowy habitat. Successfully, by February of 2007, the aviculture team had the king penguins lining up one after the other to get weighed.

"The new weigh-in process is less time consuming with remarkable benefits for the king penguins as well as our staff," said Courtney Falke, Senior Aviculturist at SeaWorld Orlando, who spearheaded the entire project. "Who ever said you can't teach old bird new tricks?"

SeaWorld's Penguin Encounter is home to over 200 penguins - including king, rockhopper and gentoo - and three species of birds as they jump, slide and dive both above and below the water in their chilly 32°F habitat.

SeaWorld is a global leader in animal training and conservation and is home to the world's largest collection of marine animals.