Birds of prey! World’s oldest African penguin, 43, takes away toy boy LOVER, aged just 13, after moving into his camp at Virginia zoo to escape other bullies

The world’s oldest African penguin has moved into a private enclosure with a mate 30 years his junior after being bullied by his colony.

The 43-year-old penguin, who goes by the name ET, lives at the Metro Richmond Zoo in Virginia and has so far survived two of her former friends, Melvin and Seldona.

African penguins are usually monogamous, but ET went against nature by making 13-year-old Einstein her toy boy.

Zookeepers credited the adult penguin’s survival to “incredible genes and a strong quality of life” as she celebrates another year around the sun, the Washington Post reports.

“We wanted to make it the happiest birthday ever,” Jessica Gring, one of ET’s custodians, said when speaking on her 43rd birthday last month.

“She is a very special penguin with some incredible genes and a strong quality of life.”

ET celebrated her long life with a dip in a private pool and a whole capelin cake with decorative ice cream.

The normal age for survival of their species in the wild is only between 15 and 20 years, with some rare cases having longer lifespans in captivity.

But her life was not without adversity, after she bonded with Einstein in 2012, zookeepers noticed that other younger birds began to bully her.

“As she got older, some of the younger penguins started teasing her a little, so we set her up in a retirement home to enjoy with Einstein,” said Metro Richmond Zoo Director Jim Andelin.

“She can still see the penguin colony through the fence, but she does much better on the other side of the mesh.”

She was also a trailblazer in other ways, taking Einstein under her wing during a May-December romance believed to be “unheard of” in the species.

“She and Einstein get along great, even though she is older than him,” Gring said.

“ET developed a deep bond with him,” Andelin said of Einstein.

Gring added that the love goes both ways.

“She and Einstein are very connected and enjoy spending time together,” she told the Washington Post.

ET was hatched at the Detroit Zoo on January 28, 1980 and then sent to the Columbus Zoo, where she received her name in 1982, the same year the cult film ET the Extra-Terrestrial was released to great fanfare.

ET celebrated her long life with a dip in a private pool and a whole lotta and decorative ice cream cake (pictured)

But her life was not without adversity, after she bonded with Einstein in 2012, zookeepers noticed that other younger birds began to bully her

On her 42nd birthday, ET is seen in her private quarters with Einstein, living a simple and quiet life

She came to the Virginia Zoo in 1995 at the tender age of 15.

“We brought 10 penguins with us [including ET] from the Columbus Zoo when we opened in 1995, and since then we’ve hatched 299 penguins here,” Andelin said.

Noting that most of the hatchlings went to other zoos, Andelin added, “None of them [the others] had the lifetime of ET. She’s a little slower now, but she’s still enjoying a happy life.”

ET would be the longest-lived captive African penguin in North America since 2018, when the previous record holder, a penguin named Opal, died at the age of 41 at an Omaha zoo, Andelin explained.

“Our records show that she is the oldest,” he said.

African penguins typically live 15 to 20 years in the wild, he added, but those in zoos can live much longer.

ET lives a quiet and comfortable life with Einstein, but while she is healthy, she has lost some of her sight and is on arthritis medication.

She hatched about a dozen eggs during her time at the Virginia Zoo, but laid her last egg in 2016, one of her daughters lived to 37, Gring said.

“All our penguins have their own individual personality and ET is no exception,” said Gring.

“She likes to play with bubbles and mirrors and stays active. She spends more time swimming than Einstein.

“She’s still a little alive when we come to pick her up for the vet checkup. [She] has a lot of fighting going on, which is easy to see in a penguin her age.”

African penguins have been listed as an endangered species since 2010 and have declined by 95 percent over the past 100 years.

Jessica Gring, one of ET’s carers, says ET and Einstein love each other very much

African penguins usually live 15 to 20 years in the wild, but those in zoos can live much longer, she had many birthdays when one of her daughters turned 35

African penguins have been on the endangered species list since 2010 and the population has declined by 95 percent in the last 100 years

“We only have about 40,000 of these left in the wild. Fortunately, we’ve had some luck with them with our breeding program here,” Andelin said, adding that there are currently about 900 African penguins in U.S. zoos.

“We feed her as much as she wants to eat – between 4 and 10 herring, trout and capelin on an average day,” says Gring.

“If she seriously wants to rest, she can go to her nest box [a small pet carrier] in her quarters.’

There are currently plans to build a larger penguin enclosure at the zoo.

“We’ll have fun with her while we have her,” Gring said. “We don’t want to think about when she’s gone, so we’ve already started planning her 44th birthday celebration.”