This brand new penguin webcam gives you a sneak peek into Penguin Point, the National Aviary’s African penguin exhibit. African penguins, also known as jackass penguins, are native to South Africa and live in a climate similar to Pittsburgh: cold in the winter, warm in the summer. The Aviary’s exhibit currently features a colony of 10 penguins: Patrick, Stanley, Elvis, Simon, Sidney, Preston, Dottie, Rainbow, Demi, and Owen. They share their exhibit with two Cape shelducks. Penguin Point is a brand-new $1.7 million African penguin exhibit that immerses visitors in the sights and sounds of a real penguin colony. This fascinating new webcam will give you a perspective of African penguins doing what penguins do best — waddling, squabbling, scaling rocks and torpedoing their way through the water.
In time, the National Aviary hopes to breed select members of the group as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) African Penguin Species Survival Plan, a carefully monitored breeding program that seeks to preserve healthy, genetically diverse populations of African penguins.
Already as part of this Plan, two of their African penguins, Kristen and New Penguin, are living off-exhibit with the hope of breeding in the near future.
Hopefully soon we will have some very tiny penguins to show you. Watch this space!
Emily Wallington
