For World Penguin Day, enjoy seven links between penguins & the Universitiy of Dundee.
1 – Antarctic Connections
It’s #WorldPenguinDay, and at Dundee we love penguins – but why is our city associated with penguins?
RRS Discovery, Captain Scott’s ship, was built for Antarctic exploration, and one of its missions included the first sighting of an emperor penguin – you’ll find statues of them outside the Discovery Point visitor centre.
2 – Street Art
The five City Centre penguins are particular favourites, we dress them up for graduation celebrations. They were created by sculptor Angela Hunter, for Dundee City Council.
3 – Emperor Penguins
The University’s D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum includes an Emperor Penguin which was probably brought back from the Dundee Antarctic Expedition of 1892-3. An amazing 3D scan was created by Dr Caroline Erolin.
4 – Maggie’s Penguin Parade
In 2018 the Maggie’s Penguin Parade took over Dundee and the surrounding area, with over 100 colourful penguins on our streets, in our parks, libraries and other buildings. The original design was by Janice Aitken, Reader, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, with artists and designers from a wide area decorating the individuals. Janice’s own decorated penguin has stayed at the University.
5 – Piper
Piper is our Sports Union mascot, and can be found cheering on Team Dundee at sporting events throughout the year. For Valentine’s Day 2020 he gave out free hugs around our City Campus. He can’t wait to be back on campus, with more free hugs.
6 – Penguiniverse
One of the artists who decorated a Maggie’s penguin was Illustration graduate, James Gemmill, who now operates as @penguiniverse, after drawing penguins dressed up as superheroes for his cousin on holiday. He sells bespoke artwork of you as a penguin, and did this drawing of Piper and your social media manager
7 – MSc in Penguin Studies?
And finally, there was our April Fool’s joke in 2017. For the record, we have never run a course, MSc Penguin Studies, though lots of people thought it would be a good idea, and were upset when they checked the date. We managed to fool several journalists (including at the BBC) who still call the office to speak to a penguin expert, after a very cursory Google.
Revisit the joke: https://blog.dundee.ac.uk/one-dundee/penguins/
