Penguins Crashed a Seafood Restaurant in Chicago and the Photos Are Just As Hilarious As We'd Hoped

We sure do love a good story about pets or animals exploring an unfamiliar location, and this one certainly fits the bill: Penguins wandering around a Chicago seafood restaurant.

The three Magellanic penguins, Tilly, Olivia, and Dolores, all from the nearby Shedd Aquarium, stopped in at Shaw's Crab House late last month not to taste some delectable crustaceans—though they probably would've loved that—but to promote the aquarium's Let's Shedd Plastic campaign.

According to a news release from the aquarium, Shaw's is one of the Chicago restaurants participating in the campaign, cutting down its plastic footprint to hopefully keep the world's rivers, oceans, and lakes cleaner. It's especially important as the pandemic likely caused plastic consumption to rise by some 30 percent in 2020.

"It's important for penguins and all aquatic animals that restaurants like Shaw's Crab House and other restaurants and each one of us works towards reducing our plastic use, so that we can continue to work towards plastic-free oceans, lakes, and rivers for generations to come," Jaclyn Wegner, Shedd's director of conservation action, says in a video from the aquarium.

To celebrate Shaw's joining the program and Chicago Restaurant Week, the three penguins had their little field trip. A video from the aquarium shows the little ones waddling around the restaurant, exploring, and no doubt wondering what they have to do to get a crab leg or two.

Aquarium staff say the restaurant visit was a good opportunity for the penguins to add some variety to their day and engage their senses. It also goes without saying that the resulting photos are super cute!