Sphenisciformes!

Penguins are all the rage these days. Or maybe not. But with March Of The Penguins (an excellent film, by the way), Happy Feet, and those annoying Pingu video games, they seem to be everywhere. This is by far the strangest thing I have seen or heard about them:

There is a family in a village in Japan that has a penguin for a pet. The penguin has its own refrigerated room. Every day they put a backpack on the penguin, who then waddles into town to a fish market. Someone at the market gives the penguin a fish, which the penguin eats, then the person puts another fish in its backpack and the penguin walks home.

Apparently the penguin was injured after being caught in a net. Rehabilitation attempts failed so this family adopted him. Here is a video clip about it.

Now I'm not saying I want a penguin for a pet, but I wouldn't mind living in a village where I got to see a penguin waddle on by each day.