Cotswolds penguin Spike crowned world's favourite

A penguin described as "a real personality" has been crowned the world's favourite penguin.

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

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

"For Spike to have made quite such a global impact is really incredible," said his keeper, Alistair Keen.

Spike 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.

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

"Spike has a real personality and we all have a fantastic bond with him, having raised him from just an egg," Mr Keen added.

The King Penguin is the second largest species of penguin, smaller, but somewhat similar in appearance to the Emperor Penguin.

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

In the end the result was incredibly close, with Spike just edging victory by a margin of 50.5% to Mai's 49.5%.

On his way to the final 15-year-old Spike had already beaten off competitors from as far afield as Australia, America and Canada in the Penguins International 'March of The Penguins Madness' challenge.

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

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