KC Zoo: Penguins

(Final post in a series on a day at the Kansas City Zoo)

After finishing the carousel ride we hit the last main exhibit — the Penguins.

The Penguin habitat includes two main sections: one for cold water penguins and one for the warm water penguins. Back in April Betsy and I had seen the feeding of the cold water penguins. This time we watched the Humboldt (warm water) penguins being fed.

When we arrived we had a little time until the feeding, so we started by observing the cold water penguins.  There were a couple of them that liked to swim right up to the glass and seemed to observe some of the motions that the humans on the other side were doing.

During the feeding we watched the keepr try to feed fish to one of the penguin chicks (which was almost as big as an adult already) but the chick refused it.  He much rather had his dad eat the fish and ther feed him the regurgitated pieces, instead of swalloning the fish whole, as the adult penguins were doing.

Some of the penguins seemed to tease the other penguins when they got a fish, wwhile turning it length-wise so they could slide it whole down their throats.