Newport Aquarium is saying goodbye to the cold-climate penguins that have delighted Kentucky and Cincinnati-area families for years, as the attraction clears space to grow a colony of critically endangered African penguins. The cold-climate birds currently living in Penguin Palooza will move to new homes over the coming months, and the exhibit itself will be revamped to welcome a full African penguin colony.
According to WLWT, the Newport Aquarium is expanding its African penguin colony, turning Penguin Palooza into a revamped exhibit. The aquarium said its animal care and veterinary teams have spent months planning for the penguins to move and will coordinate each placement carefully. Penguin Palooza is currently home to four species — King, Gentoo, Chinstrap and Macaroni penguins — kept in an exhibit maintained at 34 degrees with a lighting schedule designed to mimic their Antarctic home, according to information from Newport Aquarium.
A Three-Day Send-Off Before the Birds Depart
Before the cold-climate penguins leave, the aquarium is inviting visitors to a three-day farewell celebration scheduled for Nov. 20 through Nov. 22. Guests can visit the penguins one last time, write their favorite memories on a memory wall, and stop by an African penguin conservation station that will explain what the expansion means for the aquarium, per the same report from WLWT.
“These penguins have been part of so many family visits over the years, and people are going to miss them,” said Rebecca Foster, vice president and executive director of Newport Aquarium. Foster said the farewell weekend is meant to give the community a chance to say goodbye properly, adding that the aquarium is giving the area a holiday season for visitors to do just that — and that guests can also help protect one of the planet's most endangered penguin species by supporting the new colony.
Why the Aquarium Is Betting on African Penguins
The relocation plan, according to WVXU, will send the cold-climate penguins to other aquariums and zoos over the next few months. Animal care and veterinary teams coordinated individual placements with Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan coordinators, weighing the health, age, social relationships and specific needs of every bird before deciding where each would go.
Chris Plante, director of zoological operations at Newport Aquarium, said the transition decisions prioritize both individual birds and the species' long-term survival. He said expanding the colony strengthens support for African penguins for generations to come, and that the move reflects the aquarium's broader commitment to wildlife and wild-place conservation worldwide. The aquarium's population of African penguins will grow from a small ambassador group into a full colony, per the station's report.
A Species in Steep Decline
The stakes behind the expansion are stark. African penguins are classified as critically endangered, with fewer than 20,000 left in the wild today, WVXU reports, and the outlet notes that the remaining population accounts for just 1% of the species' original numbers. Estimates of how steep that collapse has been vary by source: SANCCOB says the species has already lost 97% of its population, while CNN reports an estimated 80% population collapse over the last 30 years.
Both organizations point to similar pressures driving the decline. SANCCOB says commercial purse-seine fishing is competing directly with penguins for the sardines and anchovies they depend on, while CNN reports that climate change and intensive commercial fishing have sharply reduced fish stocks the birds need to survive. Aquariums and accredited zoos, according to WLWT, play a vital role in sustaining the African penguin population as those wild numbers keep shrinking.
For now, the cold-climate residents of Penguin Palooza in Newport, Kentucky, have a few more weeks on exhibit before their new chapters begin. The Nov. 20–22 farewell weekend will be the public's last chance to see them before the aquarium's long-planned transformation gets underway.
