This weekend, audiences will be practically tripping over their own two feet rushing to see Happy Feet Two. We just can't seem to get enough of these charming penguins. Sure, they're always dressed to the nines, and they star in some of the best videos on YouTube. But there are plenty more reasons to fall head over flippers for penguins:

© Digital Vision/Just Animals/Getty Images

• They give Michael Phelps a run for his money. Gentoo penguins make up to 450 dives a day foraging for food. They can dive as deep as 655 feet and can stay underwater for seven minutes.
• Emperor penguins aren't just great at working together to get the job done—their excellent teamwork skills are what keep them alive in the harsh Antarctic winter. Emperors huddle tightly together to conserve warmth, and each individual takes a turn going to the toasty middle of the circle and then to the perimeter to help others enjoy protection from the cold.
• Penguin dads step up to the plate. Male Adélie penguins help their mates build nests and then take turns sitting on the eggs to keep them warm and safe from predators.
• King penguins returning from a foraging trip at sea can find their chick in a crowd of 50,000 young penguins just by listening for his or her voice.
• Penguins are faithful. Rockhopper penguins (who win the "Best Hair" award hands down) usually pair with the same mating partner year after year.   

Many penguin species are in decline, partly because of overfishing by humans of the fish they rely on for food. By leaving cod and other fish off our plates, we can help our penguin pals.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

kabacchi/cc by 2.0

For your Friday enjoyment, here are some of the sweetest and most gosh-darn amazing animals we could find.  

• These brainy crows owe their intelligence to a legacy of nurturing parenting. Are crow nannies in our future, perhaps? 
• Like humans, chimpanzees and penguins grieve the loss of a child or family member. 
• Prairie dogs have a language so advanced that they can describe humans down to the colors of their clothes. What Not to Wear: Prairie Dog Edition. 
• This cat prefers strawberries to mice. Has she been reading PETA's website?

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Poet Charles Baudelaire called the albatross "one of those big birds / which nonchalantly chaperone a ship / across the bitter fathoms of the sea," and Samuel Coleridge deemed the animal "a bird of good omen." (OK, no more 19th-century poetry references—I promise!) I wonder if those guys would be impressed to know that two female royal albatrosses in New Zealand have bonded as a mating pair and are caring for a chick together after the father disappeared.

wildlife.co / CC

Wildlife experts are definitely intrigued. Though lesbian albatrosses have also appeared in Hawaii, no one has ever seen a pair who successfully raised a baby together. We're loving this same-sex pair, and Tourism Dunedin is brainstorming a name for the chick with two mommies. I'm thinking Ellen or Portia. Do you have any suggestions?

Written by Logan Scherer

Warning: Spoiler Alert! If you don't want to have your suspension of disbelief, er, suspended, please do not read any further.

The penguins in Madagascar and Happy Feet are not real!

OK, so you knew that already, but you still love them anyway, right?

Our point exactly. That's why we're asking the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York, to replace the real penguins at the zoo with bionic birds.

Developed by German engineering company Festo, these robotic penguins are able to swim and communicate just like real penguins—and tap dance like the fake ones.

dvice / CC
I'm kidding about the tapping. They're more into Bollywood dancing. :)

These cutting-edge carbon copies are totally lifelike—but as fake as some zoos' concern about animal welfare—and they'll allow visitors to observe animal behavior without inflicting the stress of captivity on live penguins. Penguins are avid swimmers and divers who belong in open water—not on display in concrete enclosures that fail to come even close to simulating their natural environments.

And forget attracting a partner with a sweet song. Penguins in zoos have their mates chosen for them through breeding programs, and their chicks are often taken away to be raised by zookeepers.

It's no wonder that being pent-up in a zoo causes pimped penguins and other exploited animals to have pent-up frustration.

Here's hoping that the Rosamond Gifford Zoo will take our advice (we're offering to donate two grand toward this grand idea). I'd definitely be down with watching robotic animals.

How about you? What type of animal would you most like to see zoos replace with a robot?

Written by Amy Elizabeth