Animal Directory Featured species in the planned Polar Ocean & Arctic Bay habitat
Emperor Penguin
Aptenodytes forsteri
NT
Fun facts
- The largest of all penguin species — adults reach 1.2 metres tall and over 40 kg, taller than a kindergarten child.
- The only animal that breeds during the Antarctic winter, with males incubating a single egg on their feet for 65 days at -40 °C.
- Can dive deeper than 500 metres and hold its breath for over 20 minutes — the deepest dive recorded by any bird.
- Huddles in tightly packed colonies of thousands, rotating individuals between the warm interior and freezing edge of the group.
- IUCN uplisted the species to Near Threatened in 2012; new modelling projects further uplisting as sea-ice breeding platforms shrink.
From the master plan
The Emperor Penguin is the planned Polar Ocean & Arctic Bay’s Penguin Coast star — kept in a climate-controlled colony habitat that mimics the Antarctic photoperiod, so guests can witness moult, courtship, and chick-rearing in real time.
IUCN status sourced from the Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) assessment (BirdLife International, 2020) on the IUCN Red List — listed as Near Threatened with a decreasing population trend.
Find them in
Zone 08
Polar Ocean & Arctic Bay
A world of ice, ocean and extraordinary adaptations
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