Slow and steady: Calgary Zoo marking 14 years of king penguin walk

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This article was published 21/01/2026 (254 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CALGARY – It wasn’t on the scale of “March of the Penguins,” but a baker’s dozen of king penguins strutted through the Calgary Zoo on Wednesday to mark 14 years of the winter event. 

About a hundred families watched the 13 birds slowly make their way along the 10-minute stroll. 

Penguin handlers were guiding them along the path with Augustus, the youngest of them at age two, being chided not to dawdle.

“I love penguins. I’ve seen them plenty of times,” said six-year-old Alice Farrell, who was with her siblings, mother and grandmother.

“They waddle. They’re also slow penguins … very slow.”

“If they were super fast you couldn’t see them,” added her four-year-old sister, Clara.

The king penguin is the second largest kind in the world. The largest is the emperor penguin.

Officials at the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo say it is good for the birds to get out.

“For king penguins, in the wild they walk really long distances all the time,” Patrick Thompson, animal care manager, said.

“This is a great way for us to kind of get them out, get them moving and get them doing something that is really, really natural for them.”

Thompson said the penguins enjoy their daily outings. 

“They’re always super interested in doing it. They’re always waiting by the door,” he said.

“They know when the penguin walk is. They know when we start getting to this time of year when we come in the morning they’re lined up at the gate ready to go outside.”

Thompson said the zoo gets interest from all over the world for its penguin winter walk. 

“This a really special time of year.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2026.