Twenty gentoo penguins have arrived at the Detroit Zoo from an aquarium in California! Ten females and ten males will soon call the Polk Penguin Conservation Center their home when it is completed.
For now, the birds are in quarantine in the Penguinarium. The new flock will join three other gentoos that arrived at the zoo nearly a year ago, plus the colony of king, rockhopper and macaroni penguins.
“Gentoo penguins are fast swimmers and divers and spend a lot of time in the water, so their new aquatic habitat will be an ideal environment for them,” said Scott Carter, Detroit Zoological Society chief life sciences officer.
According to the Detroit Zoo, the gentoo penguin is the fastest-diving bird. It has a white stripe extending across its head and a bright red-orange bill.
The Polk Penguin Conservation Center is under construction at the Detroit Zoo and is expected to open in April. Eighty penguins will call the center their home.
The Penguinarium will be renovated into a bat conservation center.
