For those that are unaware, today is officially #PenguinAwarenessDay.
That’s right. Not something we all knew – but something Twitter has fallen in love with.
Although the origins of the day are linked to conservation of the southern hemisphere-dwelling flightless bird, the #PenguinAwarenessDay hashtag has, in usual Twitter form, deviated from the norm and has been used across the world to both celebrate the existence of penguins, and to question the need for becoming aware of them.
Check out some of the best tweets below:
Edinburgh Zoo are celebrating #PenguinAwarenessDay by showing their feathery friends to the world live via their streaming web cam:
Celebrate Penguin Awareness Day today! Watch all the action on our live penguin cams. http://t.co/eAslDkz8Ux pic.twitter.com/6cFwLaWOva
— Edinburgh Zoo (@EdinburghZoo) January 20, 2015
John Lewis, coming off the back of their hugely successful Monty the Penguin Christmas campaign, used the hashtag to celebrate more than 7000 penguins adopted thanks to their partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature@
#PenguinAwarenessDay – a good time to thank the 7000+ of you who adopted a penguin when we teamed up with @wwf_uk pic.twitter.com/48xN3SWwVj
— John Lewis (@johnlewisretail) January 20, 2015
Greenpeace used the day to find out what their followers’ penguin names would be:
What's your secret penguin name?
Look it up below & post it as a reply 🙂 #PenguinAwarenessDay pic.twitter.com/9A0NgYmfbr
— Greenpeace UK (@GreenpeaceUK) January 20, 2015
Ellon-based craft beer brewers Brewdog even got into the fun by hiring a penguin to inspect one of their mash tuns:
We’re also on the lookout for some new Antarctica-based employees! @brewdogjobs have the deets! #PenguinAwarenessDay pic.twitter.com/W4XLZzjF0g
— BrewDog (@brewdog) January 20, 2015
And online-ticket booking site Ticketmaster admitted their sheer ignorance of flightless bird recognition related-days.
Well, I was certainly not aware of penguins. #PenguinAwarenessDay pic.twitter.com/czFIgYQB5N
— Ticketmaster UK (@TicketmasterUK) January 20, 2015
And here’s a collection of other gems:
#PenguinAwarenessDay love those funny little birds ?? pic.twitter.com/7fx2d3gRt9
— Tosca (@toscakhaldi) January 20, 2015
We're celebrating #PenguinAwarenessDay with this 1935 Walt @Disney pic @zsllondonzoo http://t.co/3iIRSoeTHb pic.twitter.com/BIyf87u9nG
— Science Museum (@sciencemuseum) January 20, 2015
Today is #PenguinAwarenessDay. Funny that as I definitely thought I saw one walk past me this morning! #Freezing pic.twitter.com/5h9wfeo3cF
— YouMeSushi (@youmesushi) January 20, 2015
Fact: It's so cold because Scotland is celebrating #PenguinAwarenessDay. Damn those adorably cute things. pic.twitter.com/VaOPTNLniI
— Ishbel Macleod (@Ishbel_Macleod) January 20, 2015
Happy #PenguinAwarenessDay! Have you met @RealPenguinBlue & his friends yet? http://t.co/pVFx5sJ7Zq @HarperCollinsCh pic.twitter.com/w07pClJorS
— Rob Biddulph (@RobBiddulph) January 20, 2015
Happy #PenguinAwarenessDay and #MLKDay Errbody!! 😀 have a good'un folks!! <3 pic.twitter.com/8u3vkv5gDj
— Penguin (@Penguin_Jutsu) January 20, 2015
It is #PenguinAwarenessDay today. Here is a baby penguin for your troubles. pic.twitter.com/gBbgtwcnaR
— Edward Herbert (@ed_herbert) January 20, 2015
It's #PenguinAwarenessDay. This photo also has a seal, but it's important to focus your attention on the penguins pic.twitter.com/ClmRpN1bpy
— innocent drinks (@innocent) January 20, 2015