Penguin Encounter

Penguin Encounter is an animal exhibit at the Sea World theme park on the Gold Coast, Australia, featuring king and gentoo penguins.[2]

Not to be confused with the exhibit of the same name at SeaWorld parks in the United States.

Penguin Encounter
An overview of the exhibit with some gentoo penguins swimming on the left
Sea World (Australia)
Coordinates27°57′36.34″S 153°25′28.42″E
CostA$12 million
Soft opening dateDecember 2010 (2010-12)
Opening date26 December 2010 (2010-12-26)
ReplacedSea World Aquarium, Shark Attack
Ride statistics
Attraction typePenguin exhibit
DesignerSea World
Sculpt Studios
ThemeAntarctica
InhabitantsAt least 25:
Capacity36 penguins[1]
Size90 m2 (970 sq ft)[1]
Pool volume220,000 L (48,000 imp gal; 58,000 US gal)[1]
WebsiteOfficial webpage

History
Penguin Encounter under construction in September 2010.

On 24 May 2010, Sea World closed the Sea World Aquarium and Shark Attack.[3] These two attractions were subsequently demolished. One month later on 26 June 2010, Village Roadshow Theme Parks distributed copies of the Gold Coast Bulletin 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.[4] 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.[1] On 26 December 2010, Penguin Encounter officially opened to the public.[5][6][7] Five months later in May 2011, Penguin Encounter received the Zoo and Aquarium Association award for best exhibit.[8] 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.[9]

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.[10]

The air temperature in the 90-square-metre (970-square-foot)[5] exhibit is chilled to −1 °C (30 °F).[6] The 220,000-litre (48,000 imp gal; 58,000 US gal)[5] pool has a water temperature of 5 °C (41 °F).[6] 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.[6] Up to 5 tonnes (5.5 tons) of snow is generated daily for Penguin Encounter.[6] The penguins are fed live fish twice daily.[7][11]

The exhibit was designed by Sculpt Studios.[12]

Penguins

Penguin Encounter was originally home to 12 penguins all of which were moved from New Zealand (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.[6][7][11][13] A further 12 penguins (10 gentoo and 2 king) were introduced in March 2011.[14][15] In December 2011, Sea World welcomed a gentoo penguin chick to the exhibit making the exhibit feature 17 gentoo and 8 king penguins.[16] In May 2012, more penguins were moved from New Zealand to the exhibit.[17]

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.[9][18]

References
  1. "New attractions for Coast theme parks". Gold Coast Bulletin. 14 July 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  2. Sea World (December 2010). "Penguin Encounter – Sea World". MyFun. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  3. Sea World (June 2010). "Attractions Maintenance – Sea World". MyFun. Archived from the original on 18 December 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  4. "Antarctic Penguins coming to Sea World". Gold Coast Bulletin. 26 June 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  5. "Penguin Encounter (Sea World)". Parkz. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  6. Tuttiett, Henry (22 December 2010). "Sea World unveils Penguin Encounter". Gold Coast Bulletin. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  7. Bartlett, Tony (22 December 2010). "$12 million penguin exhibit nearly ready". Nine News. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  8. Siegmeier, Melinda (20 May 2011). "Sea World's penguins win award". Gold Coast Bulletin. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  9. Hammond, Phillip (30 June 2011). "Sea World's new penguin experience is a right royal encounter". Courier Mail. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  10. joz (27 December 2010). "The Parkz Update: Sea World December 2010". Parkz. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  11. Bartlett, Tony (23 December 2010). "$12m penguin expo almost set". Herald Sun. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  12. "Penguin Encounter – Sea World". Sculpt Studios. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  13. Pierce, Jeremy (23 December 2010). "Penguins chill in new home". Courier Mail. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  14. Bedo, Stephanie (24 March 2011). "Sea World debuts a dozen more penguins". Gold Coast Bulletin. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  15. Bartlett, Tony (25 March 2011). "Penguins holiday on Gold Coast". Gold Coast Mail. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  16. "Gentoo penguin hatches at Sea World". Gold Coast Bulletin. 15 December 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  17. Sea World (13 May 2012). "Wall Photos". Photo. Facebook. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  18. Sea World (June 2011). "Penguin Antarctic Adventure". MyFun. Archived from the original on 25 June 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
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