African Penguins At The California Academy of Sciences

Located at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco is the African Penguin exhibit which is situated at the end of the African Hall area. There are twenty penguins frolicking about on a replica of their natural habitat which originates in Namibia in South Africa. This species is a part of the survival program which is aimed at conserving species in the wild.




The video above shows the penguins in this exhibit. There are tours, question and answer sessions and two feeding times which draw quite the crowd. I absolutely love penguins but do have to admit that this exhibit I found to be too confining for the penguins. Seeing them behind glass confined to a rather small space bothered me. I think the San Francisco Zoo exhibit is far and beyond more beneficial to the penguins as it is outdoors, it is much larger and the penguins seem to enjoy themselves much more. The video below shows the penguins diving, remaining underwater for a short time then coming up for air. Again, this video bothered me as it looked as though the penguin was struggling. It could just be me as I am very sensitive about penguins because I love them so much. I was looking forward to seeing the penguins here though I was disappointed in the exhibit.