Penguin Population

B

bugs

Well-Known Member
Just wondering what species of penguin are curently kept in which collections.
Also what speiecies have previously been kept in the UK. Have Emperors ever been held?
 
Here at Birdland we currently hold King & Humboldt. In the past we have had African, Gentoo, Rockhopper, Macaroni, Magellenic & at one point even had a Chinstrap (according to old video footage)
 
Humboldts are the default; they're all over the country and I wouldn't be able to give a complete list of who keeps them. There are also quite a few Africans and Rockhoppers, Bristol, London, Whipsnade, Edinburgh, Living Coasts and Amazon World keep either or both these species off the top of my head, and there are Kings at Edinburgh and Birdland, Gentoos at Edinburgh and I'm not sure if they're still at Whipsnade and Macaronis at Living Coasts. The former two species used to be a little bit more widespread, and I remember seeing Macaronis at Marwell (before avian malaria killed ALL their penguins in 1999) and Edinburgh.
 
Edinburgh has indeed kept emperor penguins in the past, they arrived in one of the many penguin shipments from the Salvesen company, i will try and find some dates.
 
You should be able to get a reasonably accurate and up to date list of current holdings from the ISIS website, obviously it has its failings but its a starting point.
 
Bristol Zoo had Little Blue penguins for a number of years but apparently no longer .
 
Whipsnade's Gentoos have died. Chester had Emperor Penguins for a few days in 1966.
 
i think i saw gentoos alongside rockhoppers when i visited back in 2009 or were these another penquin species?
 
Zambar said:
Humboldts are the default; they're all over the country and I wouldn't be able to give a complete list of who keeps them. There are also quite a few Africans and Rockhoppers, Bristol, London, Whipsnade, Edinburgh, Living Coasts and Amazon World keep either or both these species off the top of my head, and there are Kings at Edinburgh and Birdland, Gentoos at Edinburgh and I'm not sure if they're still at Whipsnade and Macaronis at Living Coasts. The former two species used to be a little bit more widespread, and I remember seeing Macaronis at Marwell (before avian malaria killed ALL their penguins in 1999) and Edinburgh.
Click to expand...

Not many rockhoppers in uk now, only Belfast, Edinburgh, Drusillas and London/Whipsnade have some and only Edinburgh bred any this year. All Edinburghs macaronis went to Living Coasts and some gentoos went there but they returned to Edinburgh as too warm in Devon. Edinburgh and Birdland are only british zoos that keep kings now.
 
bugs said:
Also what species have previously been kept in the UK. Have Emperors ever been held?
Click to expand...
I would say almost all penguin species have been displayed in the UK at one point or another, except maybe Fiordland crested. London Zoo has even had at least one yellow-eyed penguin (a LONG time ago!).

I think Edinburgh had both emperors and little blues (the largest and smallest species) at the same time (again, quite a while ago!)
 
on one of the Blackpool Zoo threads, bongorob said they have Magellanic penguins
 
so in the UK (going by this thread) there are
1) king penguin
2) gentoo
3) rockhopper
4) macaroni
5) jackass (African)
6) Humboldt's
7) Magellanic
8) until recently little blue

9) are there any chinstraps??

the other species of penguins not in the UK currently are:
10) emperor
11) adelie
12) yellow-eyed
13) Snares crested
14) erect-crested
15) Fiordland crested
16) Galapagos

three other forms are
17) white-flippered (if split from the little blue which few authorities do)
18) royal (if split from the macaroni)
19 the rockhopper is now often split into western and eastern rockhoppers - not sure which one is the one in the UK though


is that a fair summary of the thread?
 
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