ST. LOUIS • Newt Gingrich got up close with a penguin at the St. Louis Zoo — and has the bandage to prove it.

The Republican presidential contender, in town last week to address the National Rifle Association convention, visited the zoo on Friday morning before his speech to gun owners.

While on a private tour that included a visit with the zoo's penguin collection, one of the amphibious birds took a bite at his digit.

Gingrich told reporters in North Carolina on Saturday about his beak encounter in St. Louis, which was confirmed by the zoo on Monday.

"During that visit, as Speaker Gingrich indicated in an interview with a national media outlet, he was nipped on the finger by a penguin," zoo public relations director Susan Gallagher said in a statement. "A band-aid took care of the injury."

The culprit was one of the two Magellanic penguins in the zoo’s care.