A computer mouse in the shape of a penguin? Yep, the hands of hundreds of thousands of office workers worldwide are on the iconic ergonomic mouse known as the Posturite Penguin.
To mark the launch of the new 2025 3-in-1 model of Penguin Mouse, we decided to celebrate these fascinating animals by sponsoring a group of penguins. But we realised we could take it one step or waddle further – and introduce our Penguins to these real penguins to see what happened! Funnily enough, Posturite’s head office is located just 1,900 metres from the home of 15 Humboldt penguins at Drusillas Park in East Sussex. A plan was hatched.
Cassie Poland, Managing Director of Drusillas Park, fortunately loved the idea. When Head Keeper Gemma Romanis gave us the green light too, we were buzzing with excitement and our own MD Chris Jones somehow found space in his diary too to make the personal penguin visit. Access All Areas is a privilege not to be missed and the penguin meeting date was set for April 2025.
On our arrival inside the penguin enclosure at Drusillas Park, these adorable little Humboldt penguins were immediately interested in who on earth these new Penguins arriving on the scene were.
Curious, their bravest family members approached our penguins. The zookeepers had been expecting total disinterest.
As you can see, all three sizes of Penguin Mice made the visit because there are small, medium and large ergonomic Penguins to suit the size of your hand. It’s a vertical mouse and a completely different concept to a traditional computer mouse because you use a handshake posture. The new model combines Wired, Wireless and Bluetooth technology in one Penguin. Read on and I’ll take you through the ergonomic benefits of this mouse.
At one point, a Humboldt penguin took a peck at the Posturite Penguin!
He was unimpressed by the lack of fishy flavour.
Taking care not to disturb their habitat, we let the real penguin family have a good explore of their three new cousins.
Beak – tick. Penguin posture – tick.
But our Penguins proved frustratingly immobile without a human hand. Why were they not waddling?
Come for a dip
Every few moments, the penguins took off for a dip in their pool. They often spend 75% of their time in the water and Humboldt penguins can reach swimming speeds of 25mph.
Despite our best intentions, the Humboldts decided it was time to teach a Posturite Penguin to swim and knocked him right into the water! A former swimming champion herself, Cassie from Drusillas gave only a 1 in 10 score to our Penguin’s front crawl technique.
I could see that my boss Chris Jones was in stitches and happy to sacrifice a Penguin Mouse to the occasion.
Which species of penguin is the Posturite Penguin Mouse inspired by?
The shape of the Posturite Penguin is most reminiscent of the beak, body shape and colouring of Emperor, King and Gentoo penguins.
The penguins we met at Drusillas are Humboldt penguins and are named after the 19th century German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, and the cold Humboldt current in South America to which he travelled.
They are piscivorous birds and eat fish, with anchovies, krill and squid among their favourites.
It’s true that penguins look a little like they’re wearing tuxedos. But the bow tie is something that animators tend to add for the cute factor. Yes there’s a bow tie on our ergonomic Penguin. It has a purpose! You click the bow tie to change from right-handed to left-handed use and change the scrolling direction, because it’s an ambidextrous mouse.
As well as being a mouse suitable for both left and right-handed people, some health conditions mean that it’s more comfortable to switch mouse usage between your hands, give one hand a rest and use your non-dominant hand a little.
Apparently the feather pattern on penguins is a form of camouflage called countershading, hiding them from both predators and prey. From above, the penguin's black back blends into the dark ocean floor, and from below the penguin’s white belly blends into the bright water.
I heard Head Keeper Gemma calling ‘Dunk!’ and ‘Mitoma!’ and was amused to learn from Drusillas Marketing Manager Tamara Nasser that their penguins are named after Brighton and Hove Albion football players. “We recognise each individual penguin by the spot patterns on their chest which are unique to them.”
Where do Humboldt penguins live in the wild?
The Humboldt species of penguin live along the Pacific Coast of Chile and Peru where the terrain is rocky. Worryingly, their IUCN Conservation Status is Vulnerable. Experts believe the decline in the population of Humboldt penguins is being caused by habitat destruction, over-fishing, climate change and ocean acidification.
Drusillas Conservation in Action – a conservation charity founded in 2024 – promotes the conservation of wildlife across the world and makes grants to conservation charities including the Falkland Island Penguin Appeal. Drusillas is part of the European Ex Situ Programme and 50% of their species are part of carefully managed breeding programmes. The team (below, with Chris Jones, Posturite MD) told me of their pride in successfully breeding Giant Anteaters, Red Pandas, Two-toed Sloths and many more animals as well as Humboldt penguins.
How popular are Posturite’s Penguin Mice?
The p-p-p popularity of the ergonomic Penguin Mice is proven by the fact that over a quarter of a million have been bought by customers all over the world in the last 15 years.
Sadly p-p-p pain is one reason why.
The hand posture that you adopt with the Penguin ‘vertical’ Mouse is very helpful to people suffering with painful wrist, hand and elbow conditions.
I talk to people frequently with these issues because my job is to carry out DSE Assessments. Basically I troubleshoot discomfort problems for people using a screen to work and I recommend ergonomic solutions. Many of my clients are in pain.
Let me explain how the Posturite Penguin can help. One benefit of the design is that you place your hand on the base of the Penguin, and use your larger muscles in your upper arm to navigate your way around the screen, instead of small micro-movements.
Here’s Posturite founder Ian Fletcher-Price showing you this and the Posturite Penguin in action in a video that’s had 47,000 views:
As you can see, the Penguin Mouse is designed to be smoothly moved around on the surface of your desk.
From this very simple comment alone from Victor on the YouTube video, you get the picture:
“My wrist was starting to hurt so I got the Penguin. My wrist no longer hurts.”
The handshake posture when you use a Penguin Mouse
The handshake posture of this ergonomic vertical mouse promotes a better wrist alignment and reduces tension in the forearm muscles and tendons. When you use the Penguin Mouse your forearm is rotated clockwise a little, and this open position is great ergonomically. It feels natural. A standard flat mouse with your palm downwards can create a bit of a strain and some pressure after hours of computer work. But by opening your arm up into a sideways position, you're taking away that issue.
My Posturite colleagues and I use a vertical mouse as a preventative measure, which is wise. They are often much more comfortable anyway. It’s a bit like a joystick, with a curved wraparound feel, and compatible with both PC and Mac too.
Here’s a few more customer comments from people using the Penguin Mouse:
- “This product has completely changed my life! As an individual with diagnosed RSI, the Posturite Penguin keeps me pain free. Absolutely love the product. Thank you!” Sandy
- “I have been using this mouse for over 7 years after being diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in my right wrist. It is one of the best investments I have ever made.” JML
- “Has helped with my ongoing wrist ache brought on by tennis elbow.” Adam
- “The Penguin Mouse is a definite must for me as a hypermobile person - I no longer get aching wrists and hands when I'm working.” Hilary
- “Perfect mouse for me as I suffer with arthritis in my fingers and hand.” Zoe
- “Needed a Penguin mouse following surgery to my hand. Perfectly positioned to avoid contact with the middle of my hand but also very supportive, and so easy to use. Fiona
How does the penguin’s beak feature in the design?
You use the beak to scroll, the left-click button is just above the beak and the right-click button is just under the beak. There are grooves on the side of the Penguin’s body to feel comfortable under your thumbs and fingers. The base of the mouse gives you somewhere comfortable to rest your hand – the surface has a lovely tactile feel to it. A clever design in my opinion.
Did the zoo’s director need any help with ergonomics at her desk?
To thank Cassie (above right) for our opportunity to meet the penguins at Drusillas, as well as the sponsorship of the three penguins, I offered to check her posture at her desk and the suitability of her office chair to keep her comfortable and pain-free. I was happy to hear she didn’t tend to suffer with back ache and I could see that she’d adjusted her chair successfully and had her monitor at the right height and distance for optimum ergonomics. Cassie fed back that “I did learn some very interesting and helpful pointers from you including where my eyes should be on my monitor, my leg, hand and wrist placement, as well as keyboard and monitor distance.”
Directing a zoo’s operations must be a busy job so her comfort is crucial. She’s up and about a great deal popping into a variety of locations around the park, so this movement and change of posture is a great help to her health and avoids too much sedentary sitting.
Never work with children or animals
The meeting of the real-life penguins with the Posturite penguins went surprisingly smoothly to be honest! I love the resulting photos here of penguin headbutts and think we may need a caption competition. The only drama was the watery dip and Posturite’s MD (below) remained unscathed from the animal encounter and pretty happy with his day out too.
The well-known and well-loved Penguin Mouse is a standout product in Posturite’s ergonomic range and it’s only fitting that we did something special to celebrate its new model launch.
Get your Penguin Mouse direct from Posturite and use the hand sizing guide to choose a small, medium or large model. The brand new 3-in-1 Penguin is Wired, Wireless and Bluetooth in one mouse.
Questions about vertical mice? Ask the Posturite ergonomic product experts on the Online Chat.
Photography by Nicola Kirk Photography
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