If you venture to the Houston Zoo’s new Galapagos Island exhibit, you’ll find ten friendly penguin faces. The group of Humboldt penguins were brought from all over the country for the new exhibit, which opened last month.
Humboldt penguins (Spheniscus humboldti) hail from the shores of Chile and Peru. They are amazing swimmers, who can move through the water as fast as 30 miles per hour and dive up to 500 feet underwater. They live up to 20 years and consist mainly on a carnivore diet. The Houston summers will be nothing for these penguins, who can exist in triple digit weather conditions. The bare, pink skin around their eyes helps them expel heat through the hotter months. However at the zoo, the penguins will live in a climate-controlled environment where they’re protected from the heat and our pesky mosquitoes.
