Watching Penguins Explore Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium Is the Most Wonderful Thing You’ll See Today

As people around the U.S. isolated themselves in their homes this week, the penguins at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago had a much different experience. With the aquarium closed through the end of the month, the resident penguins were free to roam the empty halls—and their tour was captured on video, CNN reports.

In response to the coronavirus outbreak and calls for social distancing from health experts, the Shedd Aquarium announced on Friday, March 13, it would be closed to the public through March 29. Still, the aquarium staff is finding ways to keep their animals occupied while entertaining people stuck at home. The video below shows a rockhopper penguin named Wellington wandering outside his enclosure to meet the other aquarium residents. According to Shedd, he was especially interested in the fish in the Amazon section. "The black-barred silver dollars also seemed interested in their unusual visitor," the Facebook post sharing the video reads.

Another pair of penguins, named Edward and Annie, went on their own separate field trip. In this video, you can see them looking into the tanks and even wandering past the exhibit halls to check out the information desk.

The Shedd Aquarium is closed to visitors, but as the Facebook post reads, "While this may be a strange time for us, these days are relatively normal for the penguins and other animals at Shedd." People isolated in their homes can continue connecting with the Shedd's wildlife by turning into the aquarium's video feeds. When Edward and Annie start building their nest next week, the Shedd will stream the event live. Here are more animal live-streams to watch indoors.