John Ball Zoo’s annual ‘Penguin Palooza,’ ensures colony’s clean bill of health

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- All hands were on the penguin deck on Thursday, Dec. 11, for the Magellanic penguin colony’s annual physical.

Now that John Ball Zoo is closed to the public for the year, the staff takes full advantage of the space for animal care and maintenance.

“It gives us the opportunity to kind of take over this whole space and not impact any guest experience,” said Dan Hemmann, a curator for the zoo.

The nine-hour operation took two veterinarians and about a dozen zookeepers to check all 24 penguins.

“They all come together and cooperate for this big ‘penguin palooza’ as we call it,” Hemmann said.

Teams of one to three checked each bird from beak to tail feather, conducting eye exams, blood tests and even radiographs to ensure they didn’t swallow anything harmful, like coins