The Best Penguin Enclosure

Kwambeze

Kwambeze

Well-Known Member
Hello! I have long wondered Which penguin enclosure is the best? I've seen several really bad penguin pools here on ZooChat, but not so many great. Which penguin enclosure do you think is the best? Of course, it may be differences between different enclosures because there are different species.

Please post links to pictures of the penguin pool you think is the best, or publish the images directly into the post.

I have not seen many penguin enclosures with my own eyes, but the pictures I have seen here on ZooChat I believe (for now) that the Penguin / Seal pool in my home zoo Kolmården is the best.

Link: Overview of part of the Seal/Penguin Pool , Kolmarden Zoo
Link: Visitor view area , Penguin/ seal pool , Kolmarden Zoo
Link: 9 meters deep , Penguin/ seal pool Kolmarden Zoo
Webcams: Webcams, Penguins , Indoor/ Outdoor, Kolmarden Zoo
 
The coolest one is in London.

The best one is in my opinion this one:
http://www.zoochat.com/257/emmen-zoo-playa-peng-inos-51739/
http://www.zoochat.com/257/emmen-zoo-playa-peng-inos-51744/
http://www.zoochat.com/257/emmen-zoo-playa-peng-inos-51743/
http://www.zoochat.com/257/emmen-zoo-playa-peng-inos-51741/
http://www.zoochat.com/257/emmen-zoo-playa-peng-inos-51738/
Playa penguinos at Dierenpark Emmen(the Netherlands), it is home to the biggest group of humboldt penguins in captivity in the world.

the best smaller one is this one:
http://www.zoochat.com/107/penguin-exhibit-63122/
in Tiergarten Schönnbrunn, also home to humboldt penguins
 
Truly great enclosures, both of them!

The Swedish one - as always - without the slightest attempt at immersion and certainly no attempt whatsoever to create a realistic replica of a natural habitat. But with a 9 meter deep pool! Bet the birds like that!

The Dutch is one very cleverly designed - pretty much the same quality as in those multi-million-dollar-US-zoos, from an aesthetic point of view!

What about the new exhibit at Woodland Park, snowleopard? How does it compare to these two examples?
 
The Humboldt penguin exhibit at the Woodland Park Zoo opened in 2009 and cost $6.5 million. It is the best penguin habitat that I've ever seen, but often the Saint Louis Zoo is credited as having a fantastic penguin/puffin set of exhibits. It seems like the more modern penguin enclosures are often the best, as cool underwater viewing windows, interactive children activities and other enhancements are added that past exhibits lacked.

It is difficult to get the entire 17,000 sq. ft. exhibit into one photo, so here is a selection of 6 photos:

http://www.zoochat.com/622/humboldt-penguin-exhibit-115544/

http://www.zoochat.com/622/humboldt-penguin-exhibit-117073/

http://www.zoochat.com/622/humboldt-penguin-exhibit-117077/

http://www.zoochat.com/622/humboldt-penguin-exhibit-117074/

http://www.zoochat.com/622/humboldt-penguin-exhibit-115547/

http://www.zoochat.com/622/humboldt-penguin-exhibit-115541/
 
Yes, that is all very well, but how would you rate it in comparison with the Swedish and the Dutch ones? :)

Using any criteria you´d like...
 
From photos the enclosure for penguins at Emmen Zoo is absolutely amazing, and it would perhaps be my #1 pick of any I've ever seen here at ZooChat. The Kolmarden Zoo has a fairly basic design (large pool, natural rocky backdrop) but it is also impressive. I prefer outdoor penguin exhibits featuring non-Antarctic species, as many of the all-indoor enclosures appear to be similar in size and style.
 
What I have seen in these images seem to Emmen Zoo and Kolmården as the best. The best in Kolmården is the deep pool, which lends to much swimming opportunities. To add is that in Kolmården built for Swedish seals. The Emmen Enclosure looks so natural!
 
Emmen, with two hands tied behind it's back...

Best small enclosure i've seen is Barcelona Zoo, i really liked the compact shape and the opportunities it gave the public...
 
Dan
The Swedish one - as always - without the slightest attempt at immersion and certainly no attempt whatsoever to create a realistic replica of a natural habitat.
Click to expand...

Are we looking at the same exhibit:confused:?
The Kolmarden Zoo penguin/seal exhibit extensively burrows from the existing natural scenery, especially the fjord in the background. They have manipulated sight lines, (or so it would appear from the photos;)) so that the water in the exhibit links up with the fjord water. Furthermore, doesn't this exhibit utilize the form created by a natural preexisting cliff?

Burrowing natural views from the surroundings and utilizing natural features to form an exhibit are two of the fundamentals of zoological landscape immersion :)!
 
Thanks for your reply, Taccachantrieri!

I probably expressed myself a bit unclear, let´s see if I can explain what I meant:

1. When writing "...no attempt whatsoever to create a realistic replica of a natural habitat." I should have written "... no attempt whatsoever to create a realistic replica of a specific natural habitat." Compare, for instance, Woodland Park´s penguin exhibit where no expense has been spared to replicate the natural habitat in which the species in question lives. Extremely detailed artificial rockwork! In Sweden that would be unthinkable and indeed, what Kolmården has done is to put a fence around a natural cliff and build a pool around it.

This is what I have semi-jokingly referred to as "Th Swedish Model": you put a fence around a piece of land and exhibit whatever species that won´t break down the fence. My favorite example, I guess, would be the 7000 square meter (close to two acres) African wild dog enclosure at Borås Zoo. It consists of Swedish forest and so it does not bear the slightest resemblance to an African savanna, or to the brilliantly landscaped 458 square meter African dog exhibit at Woodland Park. Then again it probably cost a fraction of Woodland Park´s exhibit and is 15 times bigger.

(Don´t get me wrong, I deeply admire the landcaping efforts of Woodland Park... that is why I use it as a counter-example to "The Swedish Model"!)

2. The concept of immersion.
This is probably a language misunderstanding on my my behalf. I had never heard the word until I joined ZooChat one and a half year ago. I have come to believe that it - in a zoo context - mainly means "concealing the boundaries between zoo animals and visitors", but apparently it isn´t so. I will use the phrase with more caution in the future.... :rolleyes:

Thanks again for commenting!
 
Although by the looks of it not the best. seal and penguin coasts at Bristol is one the best in the UK. I really enjoyed this exhibit with terns, sea ducks and (at the time) a blue penguin as wel as penguins. underwtaer viewing, sandy banks and even a seaside-esque houses outside the zoo.

ZooLex Exhibit
 
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