Author: LATimes

It’s time once again to celebrate everyone’s favorite holiday:
National Penguin Awareness Day. (All right, so we didn’t know this
"holiday" existed until today, and we suspect you probably didn’t,
either. But we love to celebrate, and we love penguins, so what’s not
to love about this made-up penguin-related holiday?)

In honor of the humble flightless (or are they?) birds, we’ll be taking some time out today to reflect on our favorite penguins past and present.  Among them: Nils Olav, a king penguin resident of the Edinburgh Zoo who’s an honorary member of the Norwegian King’s Guard and received Norwegian knighthood in 2008; Lala, the king penguin who goes shopping for his family at a Japanese fish market, all the while wearing a tiny penguin-shaped backpack; and the talented cartoon penguins who dance right along with Dick Van Dyke in "Mary Poppins." When we’re done with all that reminiscing, of course we’ll have to watch "March of the Penguins."

But we’ll have to make sure not to wear ourselves out with all of
this penguin-related tomfoolery; after all, we have to conserve our
strength for Squirrel Appreciation Day tomorrow!

— Lindsay Barnett

Photo: A penguin swims at the Epson Shinagawa Aqua Stadium in Tokyo.  Credit: Toshifumi Kitamura / AFP/Getty Images

At a now-defunct animal preserve in Laguna Hills, a lion named Frasier became a star when word spread of his virility. After spending most of his life in a circus, lazy, tongue-lolling Frasier went on to father about 35 cubs. "In a time of disenchantment over the Vietnam War, [he] was a pleasant distraction — he wanted only to make love," columnist Steve Harvey writes of the legendary beast. Harvey has the details on Frasier’s life and loves in his most recent column; here’s an excerpt:

He "hobbled about on weakened legs, his once-lustrous coat was scruffy and his tongue sagged from a toothless mouth," The Times reported.

When Lion Country bought him from a bankrupt Mexican circus in 1970, he was believed to be 18, equivalent to about 80 human years.

Lion Country, then one of a chain of drive-through animal preserves, put the underweight cat on a special diet, and he gained 100 pounds.

Around the same time, the park was having trouble finding a suitable male companion "for a pride of half a dozen healthy females," The Times said.

The lionesses had previously been introduced to five strong young males but "rejected each one, often using physical violence."

So, as "a sort of joke," Frasier was allowed to make their acquaintance.

By "the very next morning," The Times’ Gordon Grant reported with admirable restraint, "it was obvious that Frasier had the situation in hand.

"His wives were content."

THERE’S MORE; READ THE REST.

Photo: Frasier in 1972. Credit: Associated Press