Cotswolds penguin Spike crowned best in the world

Spike (r) is a popular penguin, regularly appearing on TV and in books and magazines

A UK wildlife park resident has been crowned the world's favourite penguin.

Spike, who lives at Birdland in the Cotswolds, gained the most votes in the international competition held by charity Penguins International.

The King Penguin was hatched at the centre in Bourton on the Water in 2007 and hand-reared after his mother and father abandoned him.

Birdland congratulated Spike and said he was now the "undisputed most popular penguin in the world".

This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original tweet on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post by Birdland

Allow Twitter content?

This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy and privacy policy before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Spike, who has 15,000 Facebook followers, has been featured in a David Attenborough TV programme called Natural Curiosities and even had his own segment on a programme called Penguins Make You Laugh Out Loud.

He also features on Christmas and birthday cards, as well as on the front cover of encyclopaedias, and in books and magazines.

Spike was up against Mai, an African penguin who lives in Hawaii.

The Penguins Madness challenge competition aims to raise awareness of the plight of wild penguins.

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk

Related Topics

More on this story

Related Internet Links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.