| | The Detroit Zoo’s Penguinarium, which opened in 1968, was the first facility in North America designed specifically for penguins. It continued the animal exhibit trendsetting the Detroit Zoo is known for, which started with the Zoo’s original design of open, barless enclosures and now includes award-winning facilities like the Arctic Ring of Life and the National Amphibian Conservation Center. The three-sided penguin habitat is surrounded by a continuous pool which allows the penguins to swim fast enough to porpoise or "swim through the air", a behavior frequently seen in the wild. The Detroit Zoo is one of the few zoos in the world to incorporate this design feature.
The Penguinarium habitat was renovated in 1985 to simulate features of the natural environments in which these species of penguins occur. The three different land sides simulate the habitat of the different species found at the Detroit Zoo. The temperature of the air and water is kept between 45 and 50 degrees F. The light cycle is controlled to resemble the natural photoperiod that these birds would experience in the wild. During the summer the days are 18 hours long, while in the winter the lights are only on for eight hours. This is critical for the overall health of penguins because they molt and breed when the length of day increases. There are 17 species of penguins in the world. They range throughout much of the southern hemisphere from Antarctica to the Galapagos Islands. The three species living at the Detroit Zoo include king, macaroni and rockhopper, all of which are sub-Antarctic species. These species require colder temperatures and, as a result, the Detroit Zoo maintains extensive life-support equipment for this facility. King penguins are closely related to the emperor penguin of March of the Penguins fame. Unlike emperors, however, king penguins nest on islands north of Antarctica and are not adapted to the extreme temperatures that emperors endure. They spend most of their life at sea, mainly in areas free of pack ice. They dive deeply in search of food, often reaching depths of 300 meters. Like emperor penguins, kings rear only one chick at a time, and it may take eight months or longer for the chick to fledge and become independent. As a result, a pair of king penguins will only raise one chick every other year. The macaroni and rockhopper penguins are closely related species of crested penguins, so known because of the yellow plumes that adorn their heads. Rockhoppers are the most widespread of all the crested penguins, with a circumpolar (all around the polar region) distribution. They nest on very rough terrain, often traversing steep slopes to get to their nests. Macaroni penguins occupy colder areas of the southern ocean, and even have one nesting colony on the Antarctic Peninsula. They nest in colonies numbering in the tens of thousands, with a total population in the millions. The Detroit Zoo has a long history with penguins and has successfully raised many penguins of numerous species throughout the years. Recent focus has been on breeding macaroni penguins, a penguin species held at only a few zoos in North America. Thanks to the hard work of its animal care staff, the Detroit Zoo raised five macaroni chicks in 2007! Penguins have thrived in the Penguinarium since it opened; it now holds some of the oldest living penguins. In fact, King Penguin One, as he is known by zoo staff, is the oldest king penguin in the country. The Detroit Zoo is a leader in collective management of penguins in North America. Tom Schneider, Curator of Birds at the Detroit Zoo, chairs the Penguin Taxon Advisory Group, which oversees the collective management of penguins in AZA zoos and aquariums. Jessica Jozwiak, Bird Department Supervisor at the Detroit Zoo, is the studbook keeper and population manager for both macaroni and rockhopper penguins, maintaining records and providing genetic and demographic recommendations for the entire North American population. The Detroit Zoo is proud to support these efforts to insure long-term sustainability of penguin populations in AZA institutions across the country.
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