Central Park Zoo debuts 4 new King penguins and revamped polar habitat

By Lisa L. Colangelo
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Originally Published:Wednesday, February 17th 2010, 4:48 PM

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The Central Park Zoo's four newest stars, King Penguins, introduce themselves to a neighbor.

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The zoo debuted four new King penguins with the habitat: Slappy, Lyle, Will and Robert.

They are the new kings of New York! The Central Park Zoo unveiled its renovated Polar Seabirds exhibit Wednesday - and introduced four new King penguins. Slappy, Lyle, Will and Robert, who waddle in that order, stood majestically on the rocks of their new home. The gang of four were unfazed by their neighbors - dozens of Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins. "You don't really know what's going to happen and we were set for anything," zoo director Jeff Sailer said of the Wildlife Conservation Society's decision to add the King penguins to the exhibit. "But it was kind of anti-climactic. The Gentoos came up and formed a little circle around them. Then they walked away."

At 30 inches, the Kings tower over the other penguins. Slappy is the largest at 36 pounds. He eats more than 100 capelins a day. "He is definitely the leader," Sailer said. "The other day they were walking, he stopped short and they all ran into him." If all goes well, the Wildlife Conservation Society will start hunting for some lady penguins to join them. "First, let's see how they do," Sailer said. "They are a little young."

Meanwhile, the rest of the penguin crowd is gearing up for an active - and noisy - breeding season. "They are checking each other out and pairing up," Sailer said, as he watched the penguins eyeball each other and squawk. "It gets so loud in here, it's almost unbearable," he said with a laugh.

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