Open 9 am - 4 pm (Early Close)
Magellanic penguins swim in their habitat at Shedd Aquarium as one penguin looks on from the rocks.

Penguins

Most penguin species, including Shedd’s rockhoppers and Magellanics, are found from the chilly southernmost areas of South America to the frozen terrain of Antarctica—never at the North Pole.

A rockhopper penguin stands in a nook of the penguin habitat.

Committed to penguin care

Shedd is home to two species of penguin: rockhopper and Magellanic. Besides their coloring and size, you might be able to tell them apart by how they move! Magellanics waddle, just how you think a penguin would, while rockhoppers are more likely to hop or bounce from place to place instead, just like their name suggests.

“I enjoy building the relationships. When I go out to the exhibit, several birds run over to me and want attention and tactile. That’s a highlight for me.”

Lana Gonzalez, manager of marine mammals
A white-striped penguin holds a bundle of thin twigs in its beak.

Studying Penguin Poop in Patagonia … and Here at Shedd!

Our Animal Care team and scientists are lending their expertise to collect Magellanic penguin guano, or poop, from a colony in Argentina and analyze it in our labs here to determine what the animals are eating and, later, how we can best protect their food sources.

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Meet the penguins

From wildly crested rockhoppers to fast-swimming Magellanics, meet the penguins that call Shedd Aquarium home.

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