Penguin Encounter is an animal exhibit at the
Sea World theme park
An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...
on the
Gold Coast,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, featuring
king
King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
and
gentoo penguin
Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...
s.
History
On 24 May 2010, Sea World closed the Sea World Aquarium and Shark Attack.
These two attractions were subsequently demolished. One month later on 26 June 2010,
Village Roadshow Theme Parks
Village Roadshow Theme Parks is a division of Village Roadshow Limited which operates theme parks and attractions in Australia. The Sydney Attractions Group Pty Ltd was formerly part of Village Roadshow Theme Parks; however, it was sold in 20 ...
distributed copies of the
Gold Coast Bulletin
The ''Gold Coast Bulletin'' is a daily newspaper serving Australia's Gold Coast region.
It is published as ''The Gold Coast Bulletin'' on weekdays and the ''Weekend Bulletin'' at weekends.
It is owned by News Corp Australia.
History
The ...
to in-park guests with a promotional cover over the top. This cover detailed a variety of new attractions for the theme parks in 2010. One of the attractions listed was an Antarctic penguin exhibit due to open by the summer of 2010–2011.
On 14 July 2010, it was announced that the exhibit would be called Penguin Encounter in addition to a number of facts about the exhibit.
On 26 December 2010, Penguin Encounter officially opened to the public.
Five months later in May 2011, Penguin Encounter received the
Zoo and Aquarium Association
The Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA) Australasia was established in 1991. Its vision is to create "Positive Outcomes for Wildlife and People."
The organisation operates throughout the Australasia region (Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Gui ...
award for best exhibit.
In June 2011, Sea World began offering the ''Penguin Antarctic Adventure'' where guests can pay to interact with the penguins and see behind-the-scenes.
Exhibit
Penguin Encounter is located near the front of Sea World. Guests can view the penguins' enclosure from ground-level and underwater viewing areas. The exhibit is also accompanied by a variety of education information about penguins.
The air temperature in the
exhibit is chilled to .
The
pool has a water temperature of .
Lighting is incorporated into the exhibit to replicate the Antarctic months where there is over 20 hours daylight in summer and 6 hours of light during winter.
Up to of snow is generated daily for Penguin Encounter.
The penguins are fed live fish twice daily.
The exhibit was designed by Sculpt Studios.
Penguins
Penguin Encounter was originally home to 12 penguins all of which were moved from
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
(presumably from
Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World) two weeks before opening. Half of the penguins are king penguins with the other half being gentoo penguins.
A further 12 penguins (10 gentoo and 2 king) were introduced in March 2011.
In December 2011, Sea World welcomed a gentoo penguin chick to the exhibit making the exhibit feature 17 gentoo and 8 king penguins.
In May 2012, more penguins were moved from New Zealand to the exhibit.
Penguin Antarctic Adventure
In June 2011, Sea World began offering a penguin animal adventure known as the ''Penguin Antarctic Adventure''. For a cost of $250 per person, guests are given a behind-the-scenes tour of Penguin Encounter before being given the opportunity to interact with the penguins. The whole tour takes approximately 45 minutes with at least 20 minutes on the ice with the penguins.
References
External links
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{{Sea World
Amusement rides introduced in 2010
Penguins in popular culture