Penguins are popular zoo exhibits that face specific welfare challenges from thermal management, social grouping, and the complexity of their swimming and diving behaviors.
Penguin welfare in captivity requires species-matched environmental conditions that many zoos cannot provide. African penguins tolerate warmer temperatures; emperor penguins require sub-zero environments that are expensive to maintain. The swimming distances natural to penguins cannot be replicated in any zoo pool. Aspergillosis — a fungal pathogen from the environment — causes significant mortality in captive penguins whose immune systems are adapted to different microbiomes than zoo environments.