In love with Valentino & friends

Certain aviary denizens have lots of visitors

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When Valentino lunches at noon every day at the National Aviary, he always attracts an audience — children, adults and cute little penguins.

Valentino, the popular baby sloth who recently celebrated his first birthday, is fed in front of the African penguins in the Penguin Point exhibit. The flightless birds flock toward the glass, seemingly greeting the people who come to see them and Valentino.

There are 19 penguins at the North Side bird zoo, and they have their own public feedings at 1 and 4 p.m. every day.

African penguins are about 18 inches tall and weigh 6-10 pounds. Endangered in their native habitat in Namibia and South Africa, they are thriving, breeding and reproducing at the Aviary.

The most recently hatched chicks are named Happy and Goldilocks. Other penguins have hockey names, including Sidney and Stanley, for Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and the championship cup they won last season.

Aviary visitors can meet and pet a penguin, up close, at Penguin Encounters every day at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. The cost is $40 for Aviary members and $55 for nonmembers, but that includes the price of general admission.

For $150, visitors can have a private encounter with Valentino, who is technically a Linnaeus’s two-toed sloth (

At the encounter, people touch the baby sloth and feed him, take photographs and learn about sloth conservation. The package includes a plush toy that looks like Valentino.

For $50, people can symbolically “adopt” Valentino. That package includes an adoption certificate with photo and a Valentino plush toy.

Encounters are also offered with flamingos and owls and other birds of prey.

Call 412-258-9445 to reserve slots for the penguin and sloth encounters or go to www.aviary.org/Encounters-Experiences for information.

All fees support the care and feeding of animals in the Aviary and conservation efforts in their native habitats.