City officials
and Zoo Director John Walczak are scheduled to open Penguin Cove on
Thursday at noon at the zoo off Trevilian Way. Among the dignitaries
will be Kent Lanum, president and CEO of the Paul Ogle Foundation, which
supplied the lion's share of the $1 million required to develop Penguin
Cove.
The exhibit – officially The Little Penguin
Conservation Center – is in The Islands area of the zoo and is being
stocked with eight to 10 of the miniature birds. Most of the penguins
have arrived from the Bronx Zoo.
The species is new to the Louisville Zoo, which has long had an exhibit of larger Rockhopper penguins.
"Penguin
Cove will give guests the opportunity to observe the penguins' social,
natural behaviors in an outdoor exhibit area. Guests will be able to
visit one-on-one with the animals in a private interactive area," the
zoo said in a release promoting the ceremony to open the exhibit.
The
fairy penguins are the smallest of the penguin species. The birds stand
about a foot high at full development and weigh around 2 pounds.
The
penguins live in colonies along the southern coast of Australia and
around the nearby island of Tasmania as well as along the New Zealand
coastline.
The penguins hunt during the day and can dive up to 200 feet in pursuit of fish and small invertebrate animals to feed on.
Scientists
estimate that fewer than 1 million of the little penguins remain in the
wild, with the species on the decline as a result of oil pollution and
drowning in fish nets.
The Louisville Zoo is actively
participating in an effort to conserve the penguins through a species
survival program, in cooperation with other zoos and aquariums.
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