May 15, 2012 |

A new $1.5-million exhibit at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach featuring a colony of 13 Magellanic penguins is set to open to the public Thursday.

Four of the penguins were found starving and stranded on warm Brazilian beaches, victims of global warming, overfishing, pollution and habitat destruction. The remainder came from existing exhibits across the nation.

As staffers prepared the 3,000-square-foot June Keyes Penguin Exhibit for its debut — installing sunshades, inspecting plumbing fixtures and setting up kennels to mimic nesting burrows — the first penguins in the aquarium's collection of 11,000 animals were exploring the amenities of their new digs.

Some of the flightless black-and-white birds used their stubby flippers to glide gracefully through the water of a 14,000-gallon pool chilled to a constant 60 degrees. Others waddled and swayed on land like tiny partygoers heading home from an all-nighter. A few fluffed their feathers in anticipation of a bucket lunch: Herring and smelt prepared in the aquarium's stainless-steel kitchen.

The aquarium’s new residents have seethed with courting rituals since the arrival of breeding season. One pair is already tending to a newly hatched chick. Another pair guards a clutch of eggs.
"The penguins beat us to the punch; we weren't expecting all this breeding activity until after we opened the new exhibit," Dudley Wigdahl, curator of marine mammals and birds, said with a laugh.
Visitors will be able to tell who is courting whom in the exhibit through a 1-hour, 45-minute behind-the-scenes "penguin encounter" tour, which will allow participants — at $90 a person — to get up close to the birds.

A few of those visitors will be selected to help prepare penguin food and then participate in a feeding session led by a staff biologist — provided the penguins are behaving themselves.

In April, then-Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was bitten on the finger by a Magellanic penguin during a behind-the-scenes tour of the St. Louis Zoo.

At the Aquarium of the Pacific, officials say they will make sure visitors are carefully matched with chilled-out penguins.

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So Dang Cute: Penguins Prep for New Home in the LBC

Photo Courtesy of Robin Rigs/Aquarium of the Pacific

The penguins are coming! The penguins are coming!

This week, the new June Keyes Penguin Habitat at the Aquarium of the Pacific will open its doors, giving rescued Magellanic Penguins a new permanent home, and visitors a chance to learn about their lives and the environmental issues that threaten their survival.

In a "crawl-in" space that will let Aquarium visitors feel like there in the space with the animals, this new Habitat will also feature rescue birds from Rio, Brazil. "Scientists speculate that these birds ended up stranded north of their normal range in search of food due to issues such as climate change and overfishing," explains the Aquarium in a news release about the habitat. "Over 75 percent of penguins are endangered or threatened," notes the facility.

"Perhaps never before have penguins experienced such rapid environmental changes. The fate of penguins is tied to ours,” said Dr. Jerry R. Schubel, Aquarium of the Pacific president. “We can help them by choosing sustainable seafood, decreasing carbon emissions, reducing pollution, and protecting areas where these penguins breed and forage,” said Schubel.

The Habitat was built to simulate the rocky beach native to the penguins, and visitors will get to see them from both above and below the water level.

We couldn't resist getting a peek at a couple of the little guys who will call the habitat home.

Photo Courtesy of Robin Rigs/Aquarium of the Pacific

The June Keyes Penguin Habitat opens Thursday, May 17, kicking off a summer of educational events about penguins, too.

In the meantime, "squeeeee!" along with us at these cute pics.