Although most penguin species are known to be monogamous, many have doubted penguins’ loyalty to their partners when a video of a female penguin’s affair ending in a bloody fight between her husband and her lover went viral online.
And then there’s this penguin in Japan, Grape-kun, who shows us that penguins are still capable of true love despite their infidelity issues.
グレープ君も5月20日の築田行子さんのご来園を楽しみにしているかもしれませんね。https://t.co/yfYuxon4Td#けものフレンズ #東武動物公園 pic.twitter.com/er4iUVBjHr
— 東武動物公園【公式】リュウくん (@tobuzoo7) May 16, 2017
Grape-kun, a 20 year-old Humboldt penguin at Tobu Zoo in Miyashiro, Japan, was left by his penguin mate Midori who traded him for a younger penguin 10 years ago. Zookeepers noticed that Grape-kun drifted away from his group so they installed an anime cutout inside the penguin section of the zoo.
The character known as Hululu in the anime Kemono Friends was designed to look like a Humboldt penguin. And after Hululu’s cutout was placed inside the penguin section, Grape-kun was noticeably attracted to the cutout anime—spending the whole day standing and staring at it.
やはり、気に入ってるみたいですね。今日も朝から見てます。 #けものフレンズ pic.twitter.com/H2wbSxPh6M
— 東武動物公園【公式】リュウくん (@tobuzoo7) April 26, 2017
Grape-kun’s unlikely adoration towards his “cardboard soulmate” earned people’s attention online that some even made fan art for the two of them.
お話できるといいね pic.twitter.com/WyaxxoO1gs
— みつもと (@mitsumotocs) April 27, 2017
Recently, Grape-kun finally met Ikuko Chikuta, the voice actress for Hululu and he looked like it was one of the happiest days of his life!
https://twitter.com/ckik195/status/865826569243066368
We wish Grape-kun only happiness! His girl may just be a cardboard cutout, but that doesn’t mean his love for her is any less pure. After all, “love is love.”
https://www.tumblr.com/birdcheese/160423512703/where-are-the-penguin-birbs-like-me
