Tourists heading to Great Yarmouth this summer are being asked to pack an extra towel for some unusual recipients.

Penguins at the Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre are in need of more towels, as they are used by keepers to keep the birds and their habitat clean.

But for health reasons no towel employed in the process or used by staff to clean up themselves afterwards is ever used twice, and so the centre "gets through more than a busy hotel".

MORE: Crisp World Cup: Kettle Chips battling it out for number 1 spotSo the animal care team at the tourist hotspot have asked visitors to donate their old towels to the endangered Homboldt penguins.

"They quickly get sodden, soiled and smelly and have to be disposed of," said penguin keeper Hannah Sparkes, "And we're down to our last bundle.

"If anyone's got any old towels they were planning to throw out, we'd be very grateful if they could drop them off here instead. It doesn't matter if they're a bit threadbare or even a bit grubby, because if they're not they soon will be."

The centre has a colony of 11 Humboldt penguins and also occasionally rescues seals, with which a ready supply of towels is equally crucial.