How Many Penguin Species Have You Seen?

  1. African Penguin
  2. Southern/Eastern Rockhopper Penguin
  3. Galapagos Penguin(Wild only)
  4. Little Blue Penguin
  5. King Penguin
  6. Gentoo Penguin
  7. Adelie Penguin
  8. Chinstrap Penguin
  9. Magellanic Penguin
  10. Humboldt Penguin
  11. Emperor Penguin
  12. Macaroni Penguin
 
@MOG2012, the King and Rockhopper Penguins respectively; hence, the asterisk.

As for the Emperors, I’m glad to hear that they would’ve had some in the Penguin Encounter days; especially since I might have seen them when I was very young.
 
I've only been able to see two species, the Humboldt and African penguin. These are the only two species that are keep in Indonesia.

I saw the Humboldt penguin in three different facilities (Jakarta Aquarium, Samudra Ancol, and Taman Safari Bogor). I've only saw the African penguin in Gembira Loka Zoo, which is currently the only holder of that species in Indonesia (Arrived from Singapore Zoo in 2014).
 
Austin the Sengi said:
Rockhopper Penguin* - non-subspecific; according to Zootierliste
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Southern Rockhoppers in NA are Western, the nominate chrysocome. The program has been managed as such for over a decade. The source for all non-subspecific rockhopper listings on ZTL is some 15 years old and I'm not quite sure why it's listed as such as the program is listed as nominate fairly far back. This is also why multiple facilities are doubled between non-ssp and Western.
 
I've seen these species, mainly in Japan:

1. Macaroni penguin
- Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, Hakoneen Aquarium
2. Northern rockhopper penguin
- Aqua Park Shinagawa, Aburatsubo Marine Park, Underwater World Langkawi, etc
3. Southern rockhopper penguin
- Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, Tokyo Sea Life Park, Kamogawa Sea World, etc
4. Humboldt penguin
- Enoshima Aquarium, Ise Sea Paradise, Underwater World Langkawi, etc
5. Magellanic penguin
- Shinagawa Aquarium, Kofu City Zoo, Sumida Aquaium, etc
6. African penguin
- Ueno Zoo, Sunshine Aquarium, Taiei Zoo, etc
7. Adélie penguin
- Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium, Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, etc
8. Chinstrap penguin
- Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium, National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium
9. Gentoo penguin
- Kamogawa Sea World, Sea Life Bangkok, Sea Life Melbourne, etc
10. King penguin
- Shimoda Underwater Aquarium, Tokyo Sea Life Park, Asahiyama Zoo, etc
11. Emperor penguin
- Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium
12. Little penguin
- Tokyo Sea Life Park, Hakkeijima Sea Paradise

12 Species
 
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MOG2012 said:
Western and eastern rock hoppers are just subspecies for southern rockhopper penguins unless there was a recent split that I didn’t know about
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They have been split, by IOC at least. I believe the Western is the predominant species in captivity, but Eastern is also present in lower numbers.
 
DaLilFishie said:
What!!!?? Is this species still on display at Port of Nagoya? I plan to visit that facility, and I would love to see an Emperor Penguin!
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My last visit to this aquarium was in April 2024, and they had at least one at that point! Not 100% sure if they still have it, but it's likely.
 
As of this writing, I have seen 10 species of Penguin (out of 18 species as currently recognized by iNaturalist).

Here is my breakdown by species. Bolded facilities are where I first observed the species in question (to my knowledge/memory).

  • Adventure Aquarium
  • Georgia Aquarium
  • Greensboro Science Center
  • Jenkinson's Aquarium
  • Lehigh Valley Zoo
  • New York Aquarium
  • The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore
  • Turtle Back Zoo
  • Zoo Tampa at Lowry Park
  • Central Park Zoo
  • Riverbanks Zoo and Garden
  • SeaWorld Orlando
  • Tennessee Aquarium
  • Central Park Zoo
  • Riverbanks Zoo and Garden
  • SeaWorld Orlando
  • Central Park Zoo
  • SeaWorld Orlando
  • Adventure Aquarium
  • Bronx Zoo
  • Central Park Zoo
  • Tennessee Aquarium
  • Bronx Zoo
  • Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens
  • Riverbanks Zoo and Garden
  • SeaWorld Orlando
  • SeaWorld Orlando
  • Philadelphia Zoo

It should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that the African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is my most commonly-encountered penguin species in zoological facilities. And I would bet that this will be the case for most people, especially those in the US. And it easily clears the field with 9 facilities where it can be found. In 2nd place is the Gentoo Penguin (Pygoscelis papua) at 4 facilities, while the King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) was featured in 3 facilities. The rest are spread between 1-2 facilities each.

SeaWorld Orlando was the most penguin-rich facility I have visited, with 5 species housed in their impressive Penguin Encounter exhibit when I visited back in 2022. Central Park Zoo comes in 2nd with 4 species, housed in their Polar Zone exhibit. Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens places 3rd with 3 species, all kept in their Bird House. The rest had 1-2 species each.
 
@DaLilFishie
I visited Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium in the end of December last year and saw only one Emperor Penguin, so I would not postpone the visit for a longer time..
 
I have seen 13 species

- King
- Gentoo
- Adelie
- Chinstrap
- Fiordland
- Macaroni
- Northern rockhopper
- Southern rockhopper
- Magellanic
- Humboldt
- African
- Little blue

Only species in captivity I am yet to see is the emperor penguin.
 
Randomname0183 said:
That leaves Emperor, Antarctic Gentoo, Western Little Blue and Eastern Rockhopper Penguin to see in captivity for me.
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ShonenJake13 said:
I've only seen captive penguins, but have been lucky enough to see almost every species kept in captivity: king, southern rockhopper, macaroni, northern rockhopper, little blue, chinstrap, gentoo, African, Humboldt and Magellanic. To complete the set I just need emperor, Fiordland and Adelie.
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ralph said:
Only species in captivity I am yet to see is the emperor penguin.
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Just a note that Yellow-eyed Penguins are kept consistently at Penguin Place in New Zealand (although now called Otago Peninsula Eco Restoration Alliance or OPERA) which is a rescue centre. Penguins are released after recovery but they always have Yellow-eyed which can be viewed by visitors.

Currently they have six species of penguins in their care: Yellow-eyed Penguin, Fiordland Crested Penguin, Erect-crested Penguin, Snares Crested Penguin, Eastern Rockhopper Penguin, and Little Blue Penguin.
 
Here is my list, been fortunate enough to at least see 9 species as of now in southern CA
  • Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae)
    • SeaWorld San Diego
  • Chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarcticus)
    • SeaWorld San Diego
  • Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua)
    • SeaWorld San Diego
  • Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri)
    • SeaWorld San Diego
  • King penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus)
    • SeaWorld San Diego
  • Macaroni penguin (Eudyptes chrysolophus)
    • SeaWorld San Diego
  • African penguin (Spheniscus demersus)
    • Monterey Bay Aquarium & the San Diego Zoo
  • Humboldt penguin (Spheniscus humboldti)
    • Santa Barbara Zoo & SeaWorld San Diego
  • Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus)
    • Aquarium of the Pacific & SeaWorld San Diego
Still yet to visit Birch Aquarium, San Diego to see the Little Blues.
 
1 Humboldt's ( Many)

2 African (Many)

3 Magellanic ( Blackpool)

4 King (between 5 and 10)

5 Gentoo ( Edinburgh, Whipsnade)

6 Northern Rockhopper ( Whipsnade,London, Edinburgh, Drusilla's, Zoo Berlin)

7 Macaroni ( Twycross, Edinburgh, London, Living Coasts)

8 Little (Bristol Zoo)
 
I've seen, African, Little Blue, Humboldt, Magalenic, Emperor, King, Chinstrap, Southern Rockhopper, Gentoo, Adelie, and macaroni
 
African penguins
Fiordland penguins
Gentoo penguins
King penguins
Little penguins/Fairy penguins (in the wild a couple of times too)
 
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Time to update my list!
  • African Penguin (Kyoto Aquarium, Ueno Zoo, etc)
  • Humboldt Penguin (Tokyo Sea Life Park, Uozu Aquarium, etc)
  • Magellanic Penguin (Sumida Aquarium)
  • King Penguin (Melbourne Aquarium, Sydney Aquarium, Tokyo Sea Life Park etc)
  • Emperor Penguin (Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium)
  • Adelie Penguin (Osaka Aquarium, Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium)
  • Gentoo Penguin (Kelly Tarlton's, Melbourne Aquarium, Sydney Aquarium, Osaka Aquarium, etc)
  • Chinstrap Penguin (Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium)
  • Australian Little Penguin (wild, Perth Zoo, Tokyo Sea Life Park, Taronga Zoo Sydney, etc)
  • Western Rockhopper Penguin (Tokyo Sea Life Park)
  • Hybrid Eastern X Western Rockhopper Penguin (Osaka Aquarium)
 
MOG2012 said:
Western Rock hopper penguins are just the nominate subspecies of southern rock hopper penguins so you are at 10
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IOC I believe has split the Southern Rockhopper into Eastern and Western rockhoppers. However I'm not sure if this split has met universal acceptance with all taxonomic authorities.
 
Not a huge number:

- Magellanic at Blackpool
- African at South Lakes back when they used to keep them
- Humboldt at South Lakes, Chester, Flamingo Land and Dudley
- King at Edinburgh
- Northern Rockhopper at Edinburgh
- Gentoo at Edinburgh and Sea Life Birmingham
 
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