Does any one out there know which facilities are currently holding Emperor Penguins ?? if so where and how many ? interesting species , would like to know where in the world they are
Historically emperor penguins have been kept in several different zoos and until quite recently there were some in Japan. SeaWorld San Diego still has some. I think they're the only left. Except this one in Wellington Zoo Emperor penguin moved to New Zealand zoo | World news | The Guardian
Not only does SeaWorld San Diego keep them but they breed them too (although not very often, but it happens) Furthermore, two aquariums in Japan keep this species. I believe one is the Port of Nagoya Aquarium but the name of the other escapes me at the moment.
There are also some at an aquarium in China, Laohutan Ocean Park in Dalian. A chick hatched there last year.
Zootierliste mention 10 European collections which kept this species in the past ( Zoo Berlin, Frankfurt, Hagenbeck Hamburg, Munich, Aalburg, Basel Bristol Chester, Edinburgh and Antwerp. The information on Zootierliste is however little and not always accuarate for example it mentions that Antwerp had its first Emperor penguin in 1965 but already in 1959 a specimen was brought alive ( however only for a short time ) into the collection. It was named "Hans". Would be intresting to learn also more about other Emperor penguins in the other collections and esp. about the breeding-attemps at Aalborg.
Presently there are only a few collections with them. Seaworld San Diego (32-33 birds, ongoing breeding, last chick in 2010) Port of Nagoya Aquarium (7+ birds, very few chicks produced here) Wakayama Adventure World (7+ birds, sporadic but recent breeding) Laohutan Ocean Park (13+ birds, currently breeding, they have produced several chicks over the past few years!) Chimelong Ocean Kingdom (40+ birds, not currently breeding, but that may change in the near future) Additionally, there might be one or two other chinese facilities that have recently started working with the species as well, although I have no knowledge of any others. It might also be of interest to note about the origins of the birds. For San Diego and Japan, their birds are out of imports many years ago, however San Diego recently acquired 10 new chicks that should be breeding in the next 3-4 years or so. On the other hand, all of the chinese birds are out of very recent imports within the past 5 years, or even less for Chimelong!
Thank you very much for this list Hyak_II! Do you know when the last cicks sliped out in these aquariums? When did SW acquired these birds, and where are they from? I was searching for months for this data.
Realy intresting information, didn't expect there where still so many in captivity and also several breeding-colonies, Thanks for this info !
