Penguins at the Aquarium

One of the perks of being a volunteer at the Aquarium is getting the inside scoop on new exhibits and animals. Needless to say, I thought it was pretty exciting news when I heard a few months ago that the Aquarium was going to be getting a penguin exhibit.
Now that Penguin Planet is officially open, I figure it’s safe for me to show off some of the pictures I’ve been taking over the past couple of months.
Here’s the penguin enclosure just after it was delivered to the Aquarium. The old touch tank on the first floor was removed to make room for the Penguin Planet exhibit.

A couple of weeks later, the enclosure moved into its final resting spot and the exhibit space was getting framed out.

Here’s the exhibit space all framed out. Life support systems for the enclosure have been installed and the enclosure filled with water. No leaks!

The walls have been put up and covered and waiting for the final touches on the exhibit. Penguins have moved in and are getting used to their new space (you can see them hanging out in the top left of the enclosure.

The completed exhibit.

Here are three of the four penguins. None of them have names, but they each have wing bands with different colours so staff can tell them apart.

These particular penguins (Magellanic penguins) are pretty buoyant and don’t dive very deep