This exhibit opened in 2007, and the mock-rock backdrop and species (Humboldt penguin) is very similar to the FAR superior exhibit at Woodland Park Zoo that opened in 2009. The Seattle zoo's penguin habitat is much more open, with no awnings, no drapes, no netting...and it is maybe twice the size! Sedgwick County's penguin exhibit is nice and better than most, but nothing that spectacular.
I've not been to either state but does Kansas get more sun than Washington? Instinctively I'd have thought so - that might be why they feel the awning is needed to allow shade for the birds and prevent algal growth, while Woodland Park gets by without it.
You are correct! Kansas get MUCH more sun than Washington, especially in the long stretches of summer when it is 40 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) seemingly every day.
