Penguins to chill in new BioPark exhibit in 2018
Groundbreaking kicks off project that will house the flightless birds
A new $12 million penguin exhibit, called the Penguin Chill, broke ground Tuesday at the Albuquerque BioPark, and should have much to teach us about courtship and parenting.
“Penguins have the ability to love,” said Patty Williams president of the New Mexico BioPark Society. “When they’re courting, the boy penguin brings the girl penguin a rock when he wants her to be his wife.”
The 14,500-square-foot exhibit will occupy a conspicuous place in the BioPark, next to the duck pond and concert shell, and just steps from the main entrance.
When it opens in spring 2018, the Penguin Chill will be home to 20 to 30 penguins belonging to three species: gentoo, macaroni and king penguins.
Those are three of the 18 species of penguins that inhabit Antarctica and islands surrounding the continent, said James Allen, chief executive of the BioPark.
The exhibit will feature two viewing levels that will allow visitors to view the birds both above and below the water, he said.
The structure also features an outside deck and an interactive education area designed like the deck and cabins of a ice-cutting ship.
People can watch summer concerts sitting on the deck of the Penguin Chill exhibit, he said.
The exhibit is the first project funded by a gross receipts tax for BioPark improvements that was approved by a 58 percent majority of Albuquerque voters in 2015, Mayor Richard Berry said during a groundbreaking ceremony near the construction site.
“It will be a good opportunity to learn about penguins, learn about their habitat, learn how we can help not only the penguins that are here, but be good environmental stewards around the world,” Berry told about 50 project supporters.
The BioPark tax added oneeighth of 1 percent to the tax levied on most goods and services in Albuquerque, effective last July.
The tax is expected to raise some $255 million over 15 years for repairs, exhibits and capital needs at the zoo, aquarium and botanic and Tingley Beach.
The tax will help finance a 20-year BioPark master plan, marking the first master planning for the complex since the 1970s, Berry said.
“Now we have a blueprint and a vision for the future,” he said. “We’re going to build these with cash, pay as you go, without debt servicing.”