@Kifaru Bwana the flock is pretty big, around 15-20 individuals more or less? They are most abundant species in the exhibit, that's for sure.
The species list is as follows; King penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus), Subantarctic gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua papua), Adelie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae), Chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarcticus), Macaroni penguin (Eudyptes chrysolophus), Western rockhopper penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome) and recently arriving from Antibes, Eastern rockhopper penguin (Eudyptes filholi).
Dear @SivatheriumGuy, thanks for your update. A nice bigger flock ... and one that would be good for a breeding colony to become established.
I would appreciate a further breakdown in terms per species (hopefully even some sex/age ratio data / information). So, if you have that on you ... I would be ever so grateful!
It would be nice to visit the Madrid area some time again. It has been a good 40 years I was last in Madrid Zoo... f.i. Perhaps, if you around ... that would be fun to see back. I be thinking also of Safari Madrid and Faunia!
@Kifaru Bwana, I'll reply to you with the post I made in the Faunia forum a few months back;
"In my visit the first of february of this year I was able to see single individuals of both chinstrap and Adelie penguins, although I do not know if more are at the park. The macaroni penguins are still just the pair that arrived from Antwerp and for what I photographed I saw at least four rockhopper penguins (Before the arrival of the Antibes penguins).
I didn't count how many king, Humboldt, and gentoos the park currently houses, but they have pretty sizable groups."
I don't know how many Eastern rockhoppers arrived from Antibes, other than that the rest of the summary is still up to date (as far as I know at least). Both Madrid capital parks aren't going through their best years, but they do still have a few exhibits and species worth seeing. The safari on the other hand seems to be getting better and better by the day, it's a park I need to go to as well at some point.
@SivatheriumGuy, thanks anyway for reposting that information. I guess for the Antarctic penguins alone the Faunia is worth a visit....
Yes, I heard good stories about Safari de Madrid ..., which was recently taken over by the Bioparco organisation ... I think!
On the other hand ..., Zoologico de Madrid seems to be trapped in a fifties/sixties timeframe. The whole obsessive continued usage of concrete and the less than good fortunes with many rare species not breeding ... is a case in point. I guess you are not the only Spanish local Zoochat forumsters to deplore the current state of ... what once was a... zoo for the future...!!! But yeah, hell ... it has been 50+ years now at Casa del Campo and this place seems to have become stuck in the 20th Century ... with an equal start of the Seventies' mentality vis a vis the animal collection, exhibits and animal husbandry.
@Kifaru Bwana Yes, the penguins, night house, and venom pavilion at Faunia are still shining stars alongside a lot of mediocrity.
The safari that has been taken over by RainForest, the company running the Bioparcs, is the one at Mallorca, not Madrid.
