Children paint pebbles for penguins to celebrate breeding season

If you were thinking of the most popular gifts people give each other you might think of chocolates or maybe flowers, but if you were a penguin then things would likely be very different.

Some species of penguins, like the gentoo, would be rubbing their wings together at the thought of getting a pebble, yes you read that right.

They often scoop them up in their beaks and carry them to a partner and they are then used to help grow a nest for their family.

To celebrate the start of the penguin breeding season a group of children have been painting special pebbles to give to the birds at Edinburgh Zoo.

Children who are being helped by Edinburgh Children's Hospital Charity got involved in the sessions which were run by the wildlife conservation charity the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.

The sessions were designed to bring the children closer to nature and the animals.

Some of the pebbles have already been given to the penguins at the zoo.

The live cameras there mean that the children can see the penguins pick up their painted pebbles, as they use them to build nests.