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Indoor Habitats Temporarily Closed
To assist with social distancing, All indoor animal habitats are temporarily closed to the public.
| Weekdays | 9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. |
| Weekends | 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. |
Welcome our new macaroni penguins!
In early November, we received macaroni penguin eggs from SeaWorld San Diego and incubated them until they began hatching on November 18. Zookeepers hand-raised them behind the scenes until now, when they were big enough to go on exhibit. The monumental challenge of raising eight hungry penguin chicks includes up to six feedings daily of a herring, krill, and vitamin “smoothie.” Their dedicated zookeeper “mothers” have picked adorable names for the three male and five female chicks. Forgive us for being cheesy, but we would love for you to meet Gouda, Parmesan (nicknamed Lil Parm,) Colby Jack, Feta, Gorgonzola, Fontina, Havarti, and Ricotta.
About the Exhibit
Helzberg Penguin Plaza opened its doors in October 2013 and became home to several king penguins but until this winter, those penguins had not formed love connections. In late November, our first king penguin egg was laid and parents Jilly and Dwayne kept dutiful watch over it. For king penguins, that required them to hold the delicate egg on their feet to keep it warm, taking turns doing so for the 53-day incubation period. On Sunday, their chick was ready to hatch.
Yes – We have had 5 Gentoo and 2 King penguin chicks hatch since we opened the exhibit in 2013.
The air and water are both kept at 45° F.
They are fed twice per day and they get to eat as much as they want.
Yes – All of the penguins have names, and we can tell them apart by the bands they wear on their wings. I am not sure how good the definition is on the camera but some of the penguins have bands that have their names written on them.
King, Gentoo in this exhibit and Humboldt in our indoor/outdoor exhibit.
We currently have 16 King penguins and 38 Gentoo penguins in the exhibit you can see on the web cam. We also have 19 Humboldt penguins that live in a different exhibit.
Penguins actually live in very large groups in the wild. They like to live together in close quarters, but need space to swim, nest, and rest, all of which we have at the Kansas City Zoo.
That is Elvis one of our King Penguins. He wears the feathers in that spot down every year. We believe it is from him rubbing his belly on the ramps as he gets out of our pools. He tends to be one of our chunkier penguins.
