Penguins in Major American Zoos

snowleopard

snowleopard

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Premium Member
The book that I cowrote, titled America’s Top 100 Zoos & Aquariums, contains reviews and photos of 80 zoos and 20 aquariums. There are 48 out of the 80 zoos that currently display penguins and 16 out of the 20 aquariums that display penguins. That adds up to 64 out of the 100 facilities with penguins, showing how popular those birds are even though they can be expensive to maintain in captivity.

There have been a number of zoos that have built new penguin exhibits recently: ABQ BioPark, Cheyenne Mountain, Cincinnati, Denver (this fall), Detroit, Kansas City, Lincoln Park, Louisville, Maryland, Minnesota, San Diego, Tanganyika, Toledo and Woodland Park make it 14 zoos that have all built new penguin exhibits in the past dozen years. Plus, Cameron Park and Houston have new exhibits expected in 2022, with Florida Aquarium also fundraising for a new, on-show penguin exhibit. That will make it 67 out of the 100 facilities in the book with penguins.

The 48 zoos that have penguins:

ABQ BioPark
Akron Zoo
Bronx Zoo
Brookfield
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
Caldwell
Central Park
Cheyenne Mountain
Cincinnati
Columbus
Como Park
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
Fort Wayne
Fort Worth
Great Plains
Henry Vilas
Honolulu
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
John Ball
Kansas City
Lincoln Park
Little Rock
Louisville
Maryland
Memphis
Milwaukee County
Minnesota
Omaha
Oregon
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Point Defiance
Riverbanks
Rosamond Gifford
Saint Louis
San Diego
San Francisco
Santa Barbara
Sedgwick County
Tampa
Tanganyika Wildlife Park
Toledo
Tulsa
Wildlife World
Woodland Park

The 32 zoos that do NOT have penguins:

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Atlanta
Audubon
Binder Park
Birmingham
Buffalo
Cameron Park – a new penguin exhibit opens in 2022
Cleveland
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
El Paso
Fresno Chaffee
Gladys Porter
Houston – a new penguin exhibit opens in 2022
Knoxville
Living Desert
Los Angeles
Miami
Montgomery
Nashville
North Carolina
Oakland
Oklahoma City
Phoenix
Reid Park
Roger Williams Park
Sacramento
San Antonio
San Diego Zoo Safari Park
Smithsonian’s National Zoo
Topeka
Utah’s Hogle
Virginia

The 16 aquariums that have penguins:

Adventure Aquarium
Aquarium of the Pacific
California Academy of Sciences
Dallas World Aquarium
Florida Aquarium (in an off-show pool)
Georgia Aquarium
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Moody Gardens
Mystic Aquarium
New England Aquarium
New York Aquarium
SeaWorld Orlando
SeaWorld San Antonio
SeaWorld San Diego
Shedd Aquarium
Tennessee Aquarium

The 4 aquariums that do NOT have penguins:

National Aquarium
Oregon Coast Aquarium
Seattle Aquarium
Texas State Aquarium

My 10 favourite INDOOR penguin exhibits in American zoos (alphabetical ranking):

Detroit
Indianapolis
Omaha
Moody Gardens
New England Aquarium
Saint Louis
SeaWorld Orlando
SeaWorld San Antonio
SeaWorld San Diego
Shedd Aquarium

My 10 favourite OUTDOOR penguin exhibits in American zoos (alphabetical ranking):

Akron
Bronx
Cincinnati
Dallas
Lincoln Park
Maryland
Rosamond Gifford
San Diego
Sedgwick County
Woodland Park
 
Not sure if this is the right thread to bump, but I know snowleopard's listings sometimes referenced similar data: how many zoos hold multiple penguin species?

ABQ BioPark (Gentoo, Macaroni, King)
Bronx Zoo (Maganellic, Little Blue)
Central Park (Gento, Chinstrap, King)
Cincinnati (King, African, Little Blue, Magellanic, Southern Rockhopper)
Denver (Humboldt, African)
Detroit (Gento, Chinstrap, King, Macarnoi, Southern Rockhopper)
Fort Worth (African, Southern Rockhopper)
Indianapolis (Southern Rockhopper, Gentoo, King)
Kansas City (King, Macaroni, Gentoo, Chinstrap)
Milwaukee County (Humboldt, Gentoo, Southern Rockhopper)
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo (Macaroni, Gentoo, King, Southern Rockhopper)
Pittsburgh (Gentoo, Macaroni?)
Riverbanks (African, Southern Rockhopper, King)
Saint Louis (Gentoo, Humboldt, King, Southern Rockhopper)

Adventure Aquarium (African, Little Blue)
Dallas World Aquarium (African, Little Blue)
Moody Gardens (Macaroni, Gentoo, Chinstrap, King, Northern Rockhopper?, Humboldt)
New England Aquarium (African, Southern Rockhopper)
Newport Aquarium (King, Gentoo, Macaroni, Chinstrap, Southern Rockhopper?, African)
Shedd Aquarium (Southern Rockhopper, Magellanic)
Tennessee Aquarium (Gentoo, Macaroni)

SeaWorld Orlando (Gentoo, King, Adelie, Southern Rockhopper)
SeaWorld San Diego (Emperor, Adelie, Chinstrap, Macaroni, Magellanic, King, Humboldt, Gentoo)
SeaWorld San Antonio (King, Gentoo, Chinstrap, Southern Rockhopper)

Out of 48 zoos that hold penguin, around 14 hold multiple species, including at least 8 mixed species habitats.

Out of 16 aquariums that hold penguin, 10 of them hold multiple species, including at least 7 mixed species habitats.

As a general observation, only Humboldt, African and Magellanic seemed to be held in facilities that only kept one species, with African by far the most common, while multispecies habitats were almost always some combination of Gentoo, Rockhopper, King, Macaroni and Chinstrap.
 
For further reference, I made a list of all the ZAA zoos that have penguins:

Brights Zoo: African
Columbus Zoo: Humboldt
Dakota Zoo: (coming soon) African?
Forth Worth: African, Southern Rockhopper
Hemker Park Zoo: African
Metro Richmond: African
Pittsburg: Rockhopper, Gentoo
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom: ?
Tanganyika Wildlife Park: African
Essex County Turtle Back: African
Virginia Safari Park: African
Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium: African
 
Last edited:
Thank you for the list. I'll be in San Diego in a few months and planned on visiting SD SeaWorld, specifically for penguins, and didn't realize they have by far the most species at one facility in the country.
 
Some Humboldt Penguin colonies are in the Atacama Desert.

Obviously ASDM can't keep penguins because they focus on native species - but I don't see why Living Desert couldn't. Considering ASDM has (had?) plans for sea lions it certainly doesn't seem unreasonable for them to keep a fully aquatic marine species, though.
 
birdsandbats said:
Some Humboldt Penguin colonies are in the Atacama Desert.

Obviously ASDM can't keep penguins because they focus on native species - but I don't see why Living Desert couldn't. Considering ASDM has (had?) plans for sea lions it certainly doesn't seem unreasonable for them to keep a fully aquatic marine species, though.
Click to expand...
I already gave you several reasons why this isn't a good idea, especially nowadays. But why don't you and other proponents of the "Penguins belong in desert zoos" prove me wrong by founding your own desert zoo and keeping penguins in it? Looking forward to reading about your experiences. :D:D:D
 
Coelacanth18 said:
Worth mentioning that, of these three ZAA zoos with a species other than African, two were recently members of AZA and one still is.
Click to expand...
Great points, and all will most likely be AZA again at some point.

Also, the ZAA runs an African Penguin AMP program (their version of the SSP) for member zoos, so it makes a bit of sense that those penguins would be the most represented.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top