The Detroit Zoo’s Polk Penguin Conservation Center officially opens to the public on April 18th. This 33,000-square-foot penguin center is the largest facility for penguins in the world. It features a chilled aquatic area where visitors can watch more than 80 penguins of four species explore their habitat. The center has 326,000 gallons of 37-degree water, ten times more than their current home. It’s also the deepest penguin aquatic environment anywhere outside their native Antarctic waters, allowing them to dive 25 feet below the surface. An underwater gallery and two transparent acrylic underwater tunnels provide views of the penguins gliding gracefully above, around and below, the same way visitors can see polar bears and seals swimming in the zoo’s Arctic Ring of Life exhibit. Inspired by Sir Ernest Shackleton’s legendary Endurance Expedition, the Polk Penguin Conservation Center is a 360-degree 4-D immersive adventure experience simulating the look and feel of a ship churning through ice-pocked water complete with arctic blasts, waves, snow, and an iceberg. Watch the penguins march to their new home in the video below!
See Also “The Harshest Place on Earth” by Alex Wurman, from March Of The Penguins:
