Black, white and ready for Houston’s inaugural penguin habitat
Houston Zoo keeper Amanda Perry gets asked the same question every day on the job: “Where are the penguins?”
For the past seven years, she never had a good answer. Until now. “I’m very excited to finally tell people they’re coming, I’m promise,” Perry says.
With any luck and a lot of cash, by this time next year Perry — currently a senior lion keeper — will be in charge of Houston Zoo’s first penguins. The aquatic, flightless birds reside almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere; only one species, the Galápagos penguin, lives north of the equator.
A fitting distinction as “Galápagos Islands,” a new 2½-acre exhibition and crown jewel of Houston Zoo’s centennial “Keeping Our World Wild” capital campaign and master plan, opens in 2022. The six-year, multiphase project with transformative exhibits, public amenity upgrades and enhanced public spaces comes with a $150 million price tag. With $137 million already funded, vice president of development Nick Espinosa has only $12.8 million left to raise.
Fortunately, “Flightless Perfection,” which will eventually house up to 15 Humboldt penguins, is already paid for. A former board member and longtime Houston Zoo supporter underwrote their new home.
“Jenny Elkins made that gift to our campaign in honor of Jim ( James Anderson Elkins III), her late grandfather, and her late granddaughter Isabel Davis,” Espinosa shares. “Penguins are just so loved by many. She thought they were the perfect way to honor their memory.”
Perry agrees — penguins are beloved, but they’re also stinky. “It’s their diet,” she explains. “They eat a lot of fish, mostly herring and capelin.”
Upon completion, their habitat will include a special prep kitchen for mealtime, nesting caves and a large, 40-foot acrylic roof that must be dropped in via plane. The idea is to provide Houston Zoo visitors with ample opportunities to view the “little torpedoes” — and hopefully,
baby chicks — in action.
“They can zoom up to 30 miles per hour,” Perry says.
She suggests thinking of penguins’ solid-bone limbs as flippers instead of wings. And they have strong personalities, like humans — some are personable, others are not. When the Humboldt penguins arrive late next year, it will take some time to suss out which birds are best suited for crowds. “Flightless Perfection” functions as the grand finale of “Galápagos Islands,” so they’ll need to put on a good show.
“Humboldt (penguins) are very popular, and they are the most representative of the exhibit because they’re endangered,” Perry says.
Conservation and education are part of the centennial master plan’s underlying initiatives. The “Galápagos Islands” exit gallery, “Saving Our
Shared Ocean,” examines the threats marine wildlife face. California sea lions will also act as ambassadors for endangered Galápagos sea lions.
Perry and Houston Zoo president Lee Ehmke are still figuring out the best way to transport the penguins. They’ve narrowed the options down to refrigerated trucks or icepacked kennels on an airplane.
Houstonians aren’t waiting until 2022 to celebrate the penguins’ arrival. On Saturday, Alie and David Pruner hosted a black-and-white Zoo Ball in their honor, raising a record $1.8 million.
Espinosa tried to fly in toy penguins for the occasion, but alas, they were on back order. Apparently, there are supply-chain issues with stuffed penguins right now.
The night’s two most popular live-auction items were penguin-naming
rights. Accenture won the opportunity to name one after the company’s senior managing director and
Zoo Ball honoree, Peggy Kostial, for an undisclosed
amount. Board member Jim Postl narrowly nabbed the second for $41,000 after a bidding war ensued. He has at least one year to pick out a name,
though if Houston’s home team clinches the 2021 World Series, perhaps he’ll consider “Astro.”