US Zoo African Penguin exhibits

SwampDonkey

SwampDonkey

In the Swamp
Premium Member
5+ year member
The recent thread on sub-arctic penguins got me thinking about African penguins on display in the USA. I have seen them in a few zoos, but to be honest, I have only seen them a few times and the habitats have been OK, but not great.

According to the AZA, there are 51 holders and the ZAA has 8. What are the best African Penguin enclosures?

I have seen them in:
ZooTampa at Lowry Park:
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(photo from Moebelle)
Florida Aquarium:
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(my photo)
OdySea Aquarium:
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(photo from geomorph)

None of those habitats are really inspiring, and the Florida Aquarium is downright depressing for a brand new habitat*. ZooTampa is a pretty decent outdoor habitat and OdySea is decent indoor habitat.

To be honest, having seen them in the wild, ZooTampa is pretty similar to what I saw in Boulder Beach SA.


*I have been told that the penguins in the Florida Aquarium are rotated from on display to BTS. There are 9 penguins on site, but only 3 are in the display at any time.
 
Haven't seen one better than Cheyenne Mountain's. Outdoor portion has a free roam beach for the penguins and pelicans so guests always have the chance at a close encounter. The indoor portion on its own is better than most exhibits.

You can see the entirety of the exhibit (and the rest of the absolutely stunning Water's Edge: Africa) below:
 
This thread lists 45 US holders, making the most common penguin species in the country: Catalogue of Penguins in Captivity Worldwide. This species is also around in the private trade, so it is the only penguin species that shows up in private zoos.

Exhibits for this species tend to be okay, and not much more. I've even seen a few I would consider bad (*cough* Racine *cough*):
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Minnesota's is the best habitat I've seen for the species and is certainly among the best in the country:
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birdsandbats said:
This species is also around in the private trade, so it is the only penguin species that shows up in private zoos.
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Good point, Brights Zoo, Metro Richmond, and Virginia Safari have them and they are private (and all ZAA).
 
I'd forgotten about San Diego and agree, it's a close thing between those two. I really enjoy seeing large groups of colonial birds (flamingos, puffins, penguins), so a big flock is essential to being a great exhibit as far as I'm concerned. Exhibits with large numbers of birds do a better job of promoting natural behavior and giving an insight into what a wild colony would look like
 
Adding on to @Aardwolf, there's a reason 9/10 African penguin blood lines can be traced back to Baltimore. Maryland has had the most successful breeding program, hatching 1,000+ chicks since the colony started in the '60s. Penguin Coast was an exhibit 10 years in the making and certainly deserves it's AZA Exhibit Award in 2016. While San Diego is certainly visually stunning, Maryland's behind the scenes nest room, chick rearing spaces, and off exhibit pools support their tremendous success with the species.
 
As someone who has been inside the building, into the ambassador area, it's Maryland. San Diego comes close, visually, but the effort put in to Maryland's can't be topped. They also work extensively with SANCCOB, help train people over there, were the test facility for nest boxes, etc.

The species is everywhere now. Not just in ZAA, but outside either organization. There are awful-looking seaquest-type places with them now.
 
Very much agree with the consensus: Maryland is the pinnacle of African Penguin exhibits with an amazing track record of births at their facility. I am partial to SDZ penguin exhibit as I’ve seen it many times but Maryland takes the cake :D On a side note, has anyone seen Denver Zoo’s new African penguin exhibit? I found a link to the company who did the rock work: Penguin Exhibit at Denver Zoo - Colorado Hardscapes
 
Wow, it is great to see some really incredible habitats for these guys. I had no idea there were so many cool exhibits for them. The last time I was in SD that habitat was not open, I am going to need to plan a trek back over there.
 
Broadly, it looks like the top are:
  • Maryland
  • San Diego
  • Cheyenne
  • Minnesota
  • National aviary

Following that are a lot of pretty good indoor habitats (primarily in aquariums) similar to:
  • OdySea
  • New England Aquarium
Then there are a host of decent outdoor habitats such as:
  • ZooTampa,
  • Metro Richmond
  • Seneca Park
  • Lincoln Park
These are not bad and not great. At least some thought was put into their building and the animals seem reasonably happy.

Lastly the worst AZA indoor habitat is likely the Florida Aquarium and worst outdoor habitat may be Racine. Honorable mention for a private zoo with a decent habitat is Brights Zoo (ZAA). The Florida Aquarium habitat is kind of odd as it is outdoors beside the splash pad, but the penguins are in a glass fronted house and a temporary tent covers where the visitors stand.
 
SwampDonkey said:
Broadly, it looks like the top are:
  • Maryland
  • San Diego
  • Cheyenne
  • Minnesota
  • National aviary

Following that are a lot of pretty good indoor habitats (primarily in aquariums) similar to:
  • OdySea
  • New England Aquarium
Then there are a host of decent outdoor habitats such as:
  • ZooTampa,
  • Metro Richmond
  • Seneca Park
  • Lincoln Park
These are not bad and not great. At least some thought was put into their building and the animals seem reasonably happy.

Lastly the worst AZA indoor habitat is likely the Florida Aquarium and worst outdoor habitat may be Racine. Honorable mention for a private zoo with a decent habitat is Brights Zoo (ZAA). The Florida Aquarium habitat is kind of odd as it is outdoors beside the splash pad, but the penguins are in a glass fronted house and a temporary tent covers where the visitors stand.
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Minnesota's enclosure is fully indoors (but huge!).

Como Park is probably also a contender for the worst:

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That's the whole of the land area.
 
birdsandbats said:
Minnesota's enclosure is fully indoors (but huge!).

Como Park is probably also a contender for the worst:

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That's the whole of the land area.
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Yikes! That's not a lot of land, definitely in contention for worst habitat for them in the AZA. How's the water depth? One of the issues at FL Aquarium is that the water is barely deeper than the height of the birds.
 
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Julio C Castro said:
Very much agree with the consensus: Maryland is the pinnacle of African Penguin exhibits with an amazing track record of births at their facility. I am partial to SDZ penguin exhibit as I’ve seen it many times but Maryland takes the cake :D On a side note, has anyone seen Denver Zoo’s new African penguin exhibit? I found a link to the company who did the rock work: Penguin Exhibit at Denver Zoo - Colorado Hardscapes
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I just visited Denver Zoo about a month ago, honestly their new African Penguin exhibit seemed run of the mill these days. It is better than most, but not in the top echelon I would say. Nowhere near the size of San Diego or Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. I was blown away by CMZ's exhibit in Water's Edge. Didn't realize the penguins could wander for quite a ways away from the main exhibit until my wife and I found a couple near the rope fence where we didn't know they could get to.
 
SwampDonkey said:
Broadly, it looks like the top are:
  • Maryland
  • San Diego
  • Cheyenne
  • Minnesota
  • National aviary

Following that are a lot of pretty good indoor habitats (primarily in aquariums) similar to:
  • OdySea
  • New England Aquarium
Then there are a host of decent outdoor habitats such as:
  • ZooTampa,
  • Metro Richmond
  • Seneca Park
  • Lincoln Park
These are not bad and not great. At least some thought was put into their building and the animals seem reasonably happy.

Lastly the worst AZA indoor habitat is likely the Florida Aquarium and worst outdoor habitat may be Racine. Honorable mention for a private zoo with a decent habitat is Brights Zoo (ZAA). The Florida Aquarium habitat is kind of odd as it is outdoors beside the splash pad, but the penguins are in a glass fronted house and a temporary tent covers where the visitors stand.
Click to expand...


I would disagree with your top exhibits. I certainly would not lump National Aviary and Minnesota with Maryland and San Diego. The latter two are a league all their own, with Maryland obviously the cream of the crop. I feel the rest across the country are all average at best, with some good exhibits (both inside and out) sprinkled in. A vast majority of these exhibits I consider cookie cutter (Denver, Lincoln Park, for outdoor and Georgia, Minnesota for indoor). A better standard might be between indoor and outdoor exhibits. Some of my personal favorite African penguin exhibits:

Indoor Exhibits:
Steinhart Aquarium - Cal Academy - natural, indoor light cycle, salted pool, multi-species exhibit (pajama sharks native to S. Africa and various sea stars)
New England Aquarium - mainly for the size of the exhibit (the entire first floor at 150,000 gallons) and the second largest captive colony in NA.
Monterey Bay Aquarium - natural light, salted pool, somewhat multi-species (sea stars and on occasion some live fish). There are plans to expand and renovate this exhibit, but no idea on timing (Travis Wood Exhibition Design - Portfolio).

Outdoor Exhibits:
Maryland Zoo - need I say more than what I've already said? Plus Great white pelicans and White-breasted cormorants
San Diego - wave machine, salted pool, multi-species (leopard sharks)

My least favorite is Memphis. They modeled their African penguin exhibit off of Maryland's Rock Island (built in the '50s) which oddly enough was never designed for penguins at all, but was a later addition. Memphis built their exhibit in 1992 specifically for penguins which has not aged well and the animal backup area is atrocious. I have visited Cheyenne Mountain, but found the lack of a penguin/ visitor barrier for some sections concerning considering how terrible their bite can be. The exhibit concept was interesting and reminded me of Kansas City Zoo's Humboldt penguin exhibit which also has doors which can be opened to an outdoor area.

I have not visited Florida Aquarium's new exhibit, but the pictures look terrible.
 
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NAIB Volunteer said:
I would disagree with your top exhibits. I certainly would not lump National Aviary and Minnesota with Maryland and San Diego. The latter two are a league all their own, with Maryland obviously the cream of the crop.
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As I said, it was really just a broad statement. I agree though, overall most are very similar. I just find those to be the most compelling from the pictures I have seen. As mentioned, the only ones I have seen in person are ZooTampa, FLorida Aquarium and OdySea.
I feel the rest across the country are all average at best, with some good exhibits (both inside and out) sprinkled in. A vast majority of these exhibits I consider cookie cutter (Denver, Lincoln Park, for outdoor and Georgia, Minnesota for indoor). A better standard might be between indoor and outdoor exhibits. Some of my personal favorite African penguin exhibits:

Indoor Exhibits:
Steinhart Aquarium - Cal Academy - natural, indoor light cycle, salted pool, multi-species exhibit (pajama sharks native to S. Africa and various sea stars)
New England Aquarium - mainly for the size of the exhibit (the entire first floor at 150,000 gallons) and the second largest captive colony in NA.
Monterey Bay Aquarium - natural light, salted pool, somewhat multi-species (sea stars and on occasion some live fish). There are plans to expand and renovate this exhibit, but no idea on timing (Travis Wood Exhibition Design - Portfolio).

Outdoor Exhibits:
Maryland Zoo - need I say more than what I've already said? Plus Great white pelicans and White-breasted cormorants
San Diego - wave machine, salted pool, multi-species (leopard sharks)

My least favorite is Memphis. They modeled their African penguin exhibit off of Maryland's Rock Island (built in the '50s) which oddly enough was never designed for penguins at all, but was a later addition. Memphis built their exhibit in 1992 specifically for penguins which has not aged well and the animal backup area is atrocious. I have visited Cheyenne Mountain, but found the lack of a penguin/ visitor barrier for some sections concerning considering how terrible their bite can be. The exhibit concept was interesting and reminded me of Kansas City Zoo's Humboldt penguin exhibit which also has doors which can be opened to an outdoor area.
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It's all pretty subjective after San Diego and Maryland it seems, so thanks for your opinions, they are interesting to read, especially the back story on Memphis.
I have not visited Florida Aquarium's new exhibit, but the pictures look terrible.
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It is barely worth the bother even if you are visiting the aquarium. It is quite out of the way if you are not using the kids splash pad.
 
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NAIB Volunteer said:
I have visited Cheyenne Mountain, but found the lack of a penguin/ visitor barrier for some sections concerning considering how terrible their bite can be.
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We asked a keeper about this during our visit and they said they've had no incidents. They've had more issues with penguins wandering too far and that's why the simple rope to keep people off the sand became more of a fence.

Certainly from a "wow" factor, exhibits like Denver, Toledo and Lincoln Park are nothing to write home about, but I really do appreciate the use of different substrates other than rock work. Too many exhibits, both indoor and outdoor (National Aviary!) offer nothing else which can very easily lead to bumble foot.

Total sleeper in this category is NEW Zoo's exhibit. Goes against everything I just said about substrate, but the two pools are large and at different levels.
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Joseph G said:
We asked a keeper about this during our visit and they said they've had no incidents. They've had more issues with penguins wandering too far and that's why the simple rope to keep people off the sand became more of a fence.

Certainly from a "wow" factor, exhibits like Denver, Toledo and Lincoln Park are nothing to write home about, but I really do appreciate the use of different substrates other than rock work. Too many exhibits, both indoor and outdoor (National Aviary!) offer nothing else which can very easily lead to bumble foot.

Total sleeper in this category is NEW Zoo's exhibit. Goes against everything I just said about substrate, but the two pools are large and at different levels.
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But the penguins don't do anything at NEW. I've visited this zoo hundreds probably about 100 times and have never seen a penguin swimming in the underwater viewing area.
 
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