Roger Williams Park Zoo To Celebrate 'Penguin Palooza'

PROVIDENCE, RI — Roger Williams Park Zoo will celebrate the opening of its Penguin Point exhibit with "Penguin Palooza," an opportunity to meet a colony of Humboldt penguins.

From 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. May 24, you can meet the penguins, watch a fun feeding, chat with a keeper to find out what makes penguins so unique, and more. Families can also dive into creativity in the zoo's "Big Back Yard," with penguin-themed crafts and discover simple, everyday actions they can take to help protect penguins and other marine life.

"Most people imagine snow and ice when they think of penguins, but our Humboldt penguins are from the hot, arid coastal regions of Chile and Peru," a zoo spokesperson said. "Humboldt penguins inhabit these coastal regions, favoring rocky environments near nutrient-dense waters."

Humboldt penguins stand 15-to-18 inches tall and weigh about nine pounds. Their waterproof, insulating feathers are maintained by constant preening with oil from their preen gland, zoo officials said. These marine birds consume a diet of fish, squid, and crustaceans.

There were more than a million Humboldt penguins in the mid-19th century, but since 1988 they are listed as "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Zoo officials said their population continues to decline, with estimates of about 12,000 breeding pairs.

Primary threats to their survival include overfishing of essential prey species, accidental capture in fishing nets, and climate change disrupting food sources. Additionally, guano harvesting for fertilizer destroys crucial nesting sites, further endangering the species, according to zoo officials.

Roger Williams Park Zoo last had penguins in 2013 and is now one of only 24 facilities in North America to care for this species.

The rain date for the event is May 25.

Correction: The date of the event has been corrected. Patch apologizes for the error.

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