An African penguin at London Zoo
By Tom Marshall
Monday, May 23,
2011
The world famous zoo’s new Penguin Beach will house a 1,200 square metre pool – four times the size of the old one and three times deeper.
It will include a new underwater viewing area where visitors can see the birds diving for their food at twice-daily feeds.
Zoological director David Field said: “ZSL London Zoo’s penguin feeds are a wonderful tradition that has been delighting visitors since our first penguin arrived in 1865.
“Penguin Beach takes the zoo’s penguin tradition into a new era, allowing us to breed large colonies of threatened penguins in an amazing new habitat. Hopefully by witnessing how breathtaking these birds are, we can encourage ZSL London Zoo’s visitors to help protect them.”
The zoo, in Regent’s Park, will initially be home to 80 of the flightless birds, but the colony is set to grow to 200 in the future.
Four species of penguins will be bred – known as Humboldt, macaroni, black-footed and rockhopper – and there will be a special penguin nursery, with a chick incubation unit and a pool where youngsters will learn to swim.
Next door to this will be an exact replica of the field station where the zoo’s resident penguinologist works on climate change research in Antarctica.
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