Exhibit / Penguin Point

Penguin point

A Little Piece Of South Africa... In Vancouver

Overview

Be transported to Cape Town, South Africa

The home of these African penguins – Penguin Point – is inspired by Boulders Beach in Cape Town, South Africa, their natural environment. A 180 degree view will allow you to see these penguins in action as they waddle on the rockwork and swim in the surrounding water.

What you'll see

Get up close

Get up close to the penguins or hang back and get a bird’s eye view from the upper viewing level. Explore this exhibit to learn more about African penguins and how they measure up to the 17 other species of penguins.

What you'll see

No snow here

Contrary to popular belief, not all penguins live in a world of snow and ice. They don’t all live in the Antarctic (only four of the 18 species live there), and you definitely won’t find any penguins cavorting with polar bears in the Arctic.

What you'll see

Catching a breeze

The African penguins on display here live on the rocky islets and coastal beaches of South Africa and Namibia. Because they live in sub-tropical climates, African penguins have to cope with both cooling down on land and keeping warm in the water.

What you'll see

Adapted to life at sea

Even though a penguin is a bird – it makes for an unlikely one. It has wings but it can’t fly, and it’s more adapted to living in the water than in the air. Penguins have wings that are shaped like flippers, making them great swimmers.

Shows

Penguin talk

Waddle your way to the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre and meet the African penguins.

Featured

Penguin behind-the-scenes encounter

Accompany an Aquarium interpreter to learn more about an endangered species: the African penguin. Then, go behind-the-scenes to see the fishy side of taking care of penguins. Finally, prepare yourself to take a close look at the animals as you participate in an enrichment training session.

How we help

Penguins have an uncertain future

The animals at the Aquarium are important ambassadors for their species because African penguins are now listed as endangered in the wild. This is because the number of penguins in southern Africa has dropped 90% since the early 1900s.

01

Is it their food?

Researchers think that these penguins’ ability to hunt for anchovies and sardines is affected by commercial fishing and the slight increase in ocean temperatures off the southern coast of Africa. This in turn, is affecting the health of the next generation of African penguins.

02

Is it their habitat?

Poor breeding habitat due to climate change, leading to increased heat stress, increased susceptibility of nests to flooding and increased exposure to aerial predators is also thought to be an issue for African penguins.

03

Species Survival Plan

We’re sharing their story and putting our support behind other organizations who are actively working to save them. It’s through this partnership that we have acquired these penguins on exhibit at the Aquarium; they were bred as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquarium’s Species Survival Plan.

The African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) – it’s the only penguin known to live along the southern coasts of Africa today.
They breed in colonies on islands and the coastal mainland from Namibia to South Africa.

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The Vancouver Aquarium is temporarily closed to the public as a preventative measure to help stop the spread of COVID-19 through our community. We have educational programming available online, and our gift shop remains open for online sales. ​​​​Read more.