Happy World Penguin Day from the globe’s benchmark penguin exhibit, SeaWorld San Diego’s Penguin Encounter! Today is a special World Penguin Day for us, seeing as in another month, the Encounter will celebrate its 30th anniversary, officially becoming comfortably middle-aged.

This May, the SeaWorld San Diego Penguin Encounter celebrates its 30th anniversary. For three decades, the Penguin Encounter weather hasn’t wavered much. It’s always been an unwelcoming brisk 25 degrees, with 100 percent chance of snow. These are temperatures that would keep your ice cream at proper set, but temperatures that keep emperor penguins at the casual.

Penguins don’t wear wristwatches. Nor do they abide by Greenwich Mean Time, let alone pay attention to its seasonal deviations. So, when the SeaWorld San Diego keepers arrived a bit early on March 11 -- a bit worse for wear and sleepy-eyed from springtime’s annual spring-forward ritual -- the penguins simply asked for herring, please. No sympathy granted.

Late in 2012, at the bottom-most part of the world, a team of Belgian researchers trekked down a remote Antarctic crevasse and became the world’s first humans to lay eyes upon a hidden emperor penguin colony. Using recent satellite imagery provided by the British Antarctic Survey, the researchers suspected the birds’ existence and were elated to find a thriving colony of 9,000 birds inhabiting the Princess Ragnhild coastline of Antarctica. Meanwhile—also this year—the National Science Foundation reported that by the year 2100, emperor penguins may risk ext

SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Animal Ambassador Julie Scardina and a couple of Magellanic penguins kicked off “SeaWorld’s Pole to Pole Inaugural Fun Run,” on Saturday, April 28. Nearly 350 participants were able to stroll by sea lions, waddle past penguins and dash by dolphins as they supported conservation efforts from the North to the South Pole.

The African penguin is in trouble. Populations of these rare birds have dropped a whopping 90 percent since the beginning of the 20^th Century.

The formal-looking Penguin has captured the public’s attention for ages, but now this beloved species is a facing a growing problem. Since the end of November 2010 a growing number of African Penguin chicks have been abandoned and are in need of urgent help.

Macaroni, gentoo and Adelie penguins were in for a treat yesterday as SeaWorld San Diego bird keepers distributed 14 tons of river rocks throughout the Penguin Encounter.

Today's Species Spotlight highlights two of the cutest animals there are, penguins and puffins. Many people get these black-and-white birds mixed up. So, we’re here to set the penguin and puffin confusion straight. Check out the differences and similarities between these specialized seabirds.

Rockhopper penguins are known for their funky feathers and hopping abilities, but here are some facts you might not know about these bright little penguins!