DECEMBER 28, 2011 -- Five year old Daniel Graves of Chestermere checks out the penguin statues outside Penguin Plunge, the display area for the upcoming penguin exhibit at the Calgary Zoo, Wednesday December 28, 2011.
Story & Photograph by: Ted Rhodes, Calgary Herald
CALGARY — In Edinburgh, some playful penguins are preparing to leave their Scottish zoo home.
Soon, the gentoo penguins will be carefully loaded into specially built kennels and, under the supervision of a Calgary Zoo boss, make their way across the ocean.
In Calgary, they’ll eventually be joined by three other species of the waddling black and white birds from various zoos across the United States and Canada in their new Calgary Zoo digs: Penguin Plunge.
Five years after it was first announced, the $24.5-million exhibit is now due to open in less than six weeks.
Zoo officials are hoping everything will be in place to open Penguin Plunge to the public in time for the Family Day long weekend in mid-February.
The display is a scaled-back version of the massive Arctic Landing plan first envisioned in 2006. That $100-million proposal included polar bears and beluga whales, and a plan for an outdoor body of water the size of a football field. Zoo critics were quick to lambaste the Calgary facility over animal welfare concerns. In the end, it was the price tag — which more than doubled at the height of Calgary’s boom when planning was still in early stages — that sunk Arctic Landing.
Today, the zoo has high hopes for the penguins.
Penguin Plunge has indoor and outdoor homes for the birds where visitors can watch the penguins swim, slide and gobble up fish and squid. It features rocky outcroppings, splashing water fountains and a deep chilly pool.
Inside, light projected on the domed ceiling is programed to glow like Aurora Australis.
Visitors enter into a walk-through exhibit with Plexiglass walls where the penguins swim right past. The pathway has a viewing area, too, where the birds can paddle by underneath.
Up to 50 penguins from four species — gentoo, king, rockhopper and the endangered Humboldt — will take up residence in the new display.
It’s one of the most technically complex exhibits at the zoo.
After a string of deaths and animal mishaps prompted a fiery reproach of the Calgary collection in 2010, zoo officials say they’ve been thorough in their homework and are ready to welcome the lovable flightless birds to the city.
“They’re obviously endearing animals,” said zoo spokeswoman Laurie Skene. “They’re charismatic animals, but there’s a bigger story to tell.”
That story — information about global warming and the imminent threats facing some species of penguins — will be told through an educational component tied to the display.
The four penguin species were chosen in part because the Calgary facility can provide a healthy environment and proper care for them, said Skene. But another part of the decision is the conservation role the zoo hopes to embrace. Humboldts are particularly threatened, while Rockhoppers are beginning to face new challenges to survival, she said.
“Modern zoos are becoming sort of the Noah’s Arks of keeping genetic diversity going for some species that are not now facing extinction in the wild,” said Skene.
Animal welfare groups say they’re concerned the zoo is more focused on cashing in on penguins’ cute factor, buoyed by crowd-pleasing films such as Happy Feet (starring Emperor penguins) and Mr. Popper’s Penguins (featuring gentoo birds).
Soon, the gentoo penguins will be carefully loaded into specially built kennels and, under the supervision of a Calgary Zoo boss, make their way across the ocean.
In Calgary, they’ll eventually be joined by three other species of the waddling black and white birds from various zoos across the United States and Canada in their new Calgary Zoo digs: Penguin Plunge.
Five years after it was first announced, the $24.5-million exhibit is now due to open in less than six weeks.
Zoo officials are hoping everything will be in place to open Penguin Plunge to the public in time for the Family Day long weekend in mid-February.
The display is a scaled-back version of the massive Arctic Landing plan first envisioned in 2006. That $100-million proposal included polar bears and beluga whales, and a plan for an outdoor body of water the size of a football field. Zoo critics were quick to lambaste the Calgary facility over animal welfare concerns. In the end, it was the price tag — which more than doubled at the height of Calgary’s boom when planning was still in early stages — that sunk Arctic Landing.
Today, the zoo has high hopes for the penguins.
Penguin Plunge has indoor and outdoor homes for the birds where visitors can watch the penguins swim, slide and gobble up fish and squid. It features rocky outcroppings, splashing water fountains and a deep chilly pool.
Inside, light projected on the domed ceiling is programed to glow like Aurora Australis.
Visitors enter into a walk-through exhibit with Plexiglass walls where the penguins swim right past. The pathway has a viewing area, too, where the birds can paddle by underneath.
Up to 50 penguins from four species — gentoo, king, rockhopper and the endangered Humboldt — will take up residence in the new display.
It’s one of the most technically complex exhibits at the zoo.
After a string of deaths and animal mishaps prompted a fiery reproach of the Calgary collection in 2010, zoo officials say they’ve been thorough in their homework and are ready to welcome the lovable flightless birds to the city.
“They’re obviously endearing animals,” said zoo spokeswoman Laurie Skene. “They’re charismatic animals, but there’s a bigger story to tell.”
That story — information about global warming and the imminent threats facing some species of penguins — will be told through an educational component tied to the display.
The four penguin species were chosen in part because the Calgary facility can provide a healthy environment and proper care for them, said Skene. But another part of the decision is the conservation role the zoo hopes to embrace. Humboldts are particularly threatened, while Rockhoppers are beginning to face new challenges to survival, she said.
“Modern zoos are becoming sort of the Noah’s Arks of keeping genetic diversity going for some species that are not now facing extinction in the wild,” said Skene.
Animal welfare groups say they’re concerned the zoo is more focused on cashing in on penguins’ cute factor, buoyed by crowd-pleasing films such as Happy Feet (starring Emperor penguins) and Mr. Popper’s Penguins (featuring gentoo birds).
Of
the four species coming to Calgary, for example, only the King penguins
spend long periods in cold weather, noted Barry Kent MacKay, Canadian
representative of Born Free USA. He said he hoped the Calgary Zoo gave
correct information about each species’ true habitat rather than a
“cartoonish” version.
Important issues, such as food shortages caused by overfishing or oil spills should be addressed in the display, he contended.
“I don’t like to see these beautiful creatures put into an incorrect environment in terms of what they really live like and then rationalize it as being a conservation or education effort,” said MacKay, a director of Zoocheck Canada, one of the zoo’s fiercest critics.
“What they’re doing is putting these birds into a very contrived and cliched setting and trying to convince people it’s educational.”
The Calgary Zoo has put a great deal of care into developing the exhibit to ensure the safety of the penguins and appeal to each species, said Colleen Baird, one of three new area managers the zoo has hired in the past year.
In the past months, zoo staff have fanned out to penguin collections across the continent and in the United Kingdom to learn from other facilities’ exhibits.
“We’ve learned a lot from other zoos that have experienced penguins,” said Baird.
The rockhoppers, unsurprisingly, prefer the rocky outcroppings, she said.
The gentoos love spending time in the water and close to the shoreline.
“You’ll just see that natural breaking up because of the habitats,” she explained.
The Humboldt penguins are warm-weather birds found living along the Pacific coastal areas of Chile and Peru. They’ll be outside most often in the summer, swimming and diving in the 1.5-metre pool.
King and gentoos need it to be colder all year round. In the warm months, they’ll spend most of their time inside, where the air temperature is kept at a brisk 7C, said Skene.
“We’ll have the ability to vary their habitat and the temperatures they’re experiencing, and still maintain a healthy environment for them,” Skene said.
Penguin exhibits are finicky.
The birds require highly-controlled air and water circulation, said Michael Macek, curator of birds at Missouri’s St. Louis Zoo, which has cared for penguins since 2003.
Like most birds, penguins are susceptible to respiratory infections, and air quality at the exhibit must be pristine, he said. Complex filtration systems are necessary to maintain the water for the pools — and keep the “fecal load” to a minimum, added Macek.'
At Penguin Plunge, an entire floor is dedicated to air handling. Water is carefully circulated and temperature maintained, with different systems for each of the outdoor and indoor pools.
Inside, UV lightning has also been meticulously set up to give the penguins the same type of light cycle they’d get from the sun — an important element to keep the birds on their moulting cycle, Baird explained.
Calgary’s penguins will come from zoos in Syracuse, Seattle, Edinburgh, Montreal, and at least one SeaWorld facility.Important issues, such as food shortages caused by overfishing or oil spills should be addressed in the display, he contended.
“I don’t like to see these beautiful creatures put into an incorrect environment in terms of what they really live like and then rationalize it as being a conservation or education effort,” said MacKay, a director of Zoocheck Canada, one of the zoo’s fiercest critics.
“What they’re doing is putting these birds into a very contrived and cliched setting and trying to convince people it’s educational.”
The Calgary Zoo has put a great deal of care into developing the exhibit to ensure the safety of the penguins and appeal to each species, said Colleen Baird, one of three new area managers the zoo has hired in the past year.
In the past months, zoo staff have fanned out to penguin collections across the continent and in the United Kingdom to learn from other facilities’ exhibits.
“We’ve learned a lot from other zoos that have experienced penguins,” said Baird.
The rockhoppers, unsurprisingly, prefer the rocky outcroppings, she said.
The gentoos love spending time in the water and close to the shoreline.
“You’ll just see that natural breaking up because of the habitats,” she explained.
The Humboldt penguins are warm-weather birds found living along the Pacific coastal areas of Chile and Peru. They’ll be outside most often in the summer, swimming and diving in the 1.5-metre pool.
King and gentoos need it to be colder all year round. In the warm months, they’ll spend most of their time inside, where the air temperature is kept at a brisk 7C, said Skene.
“We’ll have the ability to vary their habitat and the temperatures they’re experiencing, and still maintain a healthy environment for them,” Skene said.
Penguin exhibits are finicky.
The birds require highly-controlled air and water circulation, said Michael Macek, curator of birds at Missouri’s St. Louis Zoo, which has cared for penguins since 2003.
Like most birds, penguins are susceptible to respiratory infections, and air quality at the exhibit must be pristine, he said. Complex filtration systems are necessary to maintain the water for the pools — and keep the “fecal load” to a minimum, added Macek.'
At Penguin Plunge, an entire floor is dedicated to air handling. Water is carefully circulated and temperature maintained, with different systems for each of the outdoor and indoor pools.
Inside, UV lightning has also been meticulously set up to give the penguins the same type of light cycle they’d get from the sun — an important element to keep the birds on their moulting cycle, Baird explained.
Most of them will be delivered by plane, though some will get driven into Canada. A staff member, either from the Calgary Zoo or the penguin’s former home, will oversee each delivery.
“There’s specially built kennels they’re put in and they’ve been accompanied by a staff member each step of the way,” said Baird.
Some Humboldts arrived earlier this month, and are now in quarantine.
All birds from each location will go through a similar quarantine period before the penguins are introduced into the exhibit.
Travel is stressful for the birds, and Skene said the zoo is doing all it can to minimize the risk.
The Calgary Zoo is still putting finishing touches on Penguin Plunge. A fence encircles the new display. At its entrance stands a two-metre-tall, 127 kg., black and white King penguin, gazing down at a baby brown chick.
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