Join the Flock for Breakfast for World Penguin Day

April 15, 2021

It’s World Penguin Day, so let’s hang out with CMZoo’s African penguins in Water’s Edge: Africa! Join our keepers at the edge of the guest sidewalk, where our 16 African penguins can come right up to their penguin-sized fence to say hello to our guests any time they want on warm-weather days.

Did you know that by supporting CMZoo, you’re supporting frontline penguin conservation efforts in South Africa? Because of your support, our conservation partner, SANCCOB rescued, rehabilitated and released 124 chicks to the wild in 2020, and the work continues. SANCCOB penguin rangers live on-site with wild penguin populations, which allows them to quickly save abandoned chicks and help injured adults recover, then rejoin their wild flocks.

In this video, we say hello to Rico and Rufaro, and learn about their process going through a catastrophic molt. Penguins experience a catastrophic molt – when they lose all of their feathers at once, then regrow them – about once a year. You can also learn about the personalities of some of the individuals in our flock, like outgoing Napoleon and Captain, as our keepers sit down with them for breakfast.