Melbourne Aquarium Penguins

MARK

MARK

Well-Known Member
After having looked at the website for the Melbourne Aquarium I saw photo's of both the King and Gentoo Peguin species but no idea about how many of each species they hold, would any of you guys who have visited know the numbers of each species, there "looks" like at least five Kings but there could be more?
 
MARK said:
After having looked at the website for the Melbourne Aquarium I saw photo's of both the King and Gentoo Peguin species but no idea about how many of each species they hold, would any of you guys who have visited know the numbers of each species, there "looks" like at least five Kings but there could be more?
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There were only about 5 or 6 king penguins and about 11 gentoo. Melbourne Aquarium hopes to breed the penguins but IMO the exhibit isn't really big enough and they would need more space off exhibit. The pool especially isn't big enough for any more penguins.
 
They have more penguins now. There's 10 kings and more than 20 gentoos (not sure exactly how many there are).

Apparently the enclosure is designed to house up to 80 penguins. That strikes me as far too many, but I'm not an expert.
 
Thanks guys, I guess if they breed well they could transfer a few to some of the other Aussie zoo's
 
the exhibit looks atrocious. i find it kind of ironic that films like happy feet made penguins such popular exhibits in the first place, and yet the melbourne aquarium builds exactly the sort of mediocre, artificial habitat that is lampooned in the film.

apart from the small size and tacky landscaping - my main issue is the lack of natural light in these exhibits. skylights is not a big request for indoor enclosures.
 
apart from the small size and tacky landscaping - my main issue is the lack of natural light in these exhibits. skylights is not a big request for indoor enclosures.[/QUOTE]

Natural light would change the light cycle that these birds require. At certain times of the year the Antarctic environment is dark or light for up to twenty hours a day. Natural light would also increase the temperature of the exhibit......
 
smiley said:
Natural light would change the light cycle that these birds require. At certain times of the year the Antarctic environment is dark or light for up to twenty hours a day. Natural light would also increase the temperature of the exhibit......
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i disagree smiley, natural light can be provided in many different ways and plenty of types of glass radically minimise heat.

in addition its only take a little imagination and not much effort to either provide daylight extention - via lamps, or to screen off or partially or fully, skylights to prevent if one wishes to provide the birds with more darkness.

this would also dramatically decrease the amount of energy wasted artificial lighting - not a bad idea seeing as the main threat to penguins is global warming.

i'd be interested to know, does the aquarium keep their birds in the dark during the winter months anyway?

as for the landscaping - personally i would have modelled the exhibit on a subantarctic island - and had a stoney beach, wave pool with fans and even plantings of subantarctic grasses and shrubs.

a well painted, photographed, or even better - projected video mural would have been a nice touch as well.
 
I'm sure somebody on this forum will know - how did Melbourne Aquarium import birds (the penguins) from NZ? Knowing full well about the strict import laws, does this mean that birds/eggs can be moved across the Tasman?

Also given that Auckland imported flamingo eggs from the UK several years ago, does this give Australia (and NZ) some hope for improving both the current precarious populations of exotic species and possibly new species that are targeted by the ASMP? It just sounds a bit like an easy (relatively) loophole that could be used.
 
after watching that video i am pretty certain i would absolutely hate this exhibit if i ever saw it....
 
Sigh. This exhibit is getting very crowded. I know that penguins don't mind that on land. But the water section is pitifully small. I was there the other day and all 30-plus penguins were in the water. There simply wasn't enough swimming space. Poor water quality is also becoming a frequent problem.

Also - last year's breeding attempts appear to have come to nothing. They were expecting to have their own, Melbourne born and bred six-month old gentoos around now.
 
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