Why this one enclosure now drives Mumbai zoo’s entire visitor revenue
Mumbai's Byculla Zoo says its Humboldt penguin colony, now 25 birds strong after four new chicks, has become its single biggest visitor draw.
Since arriving from South Korea in 2016, the Humboldt penguins at Mumbai’s Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Botanical Garden and Zoo have grown from a novelty exhibit into the zoo’s single biggest attraction, drawing thousands of visitors every week and contributing significantly to its revenue. That draw has only grown stronger with news that the colony now stands at 25 birds.
Four chicks born over the past year were kept out of the public eye until zoo officials were confident they were healthy, and have now been added to the official count. A male, Pikachu, was born in October 2025, a female named Lily arrived in January 2026, and two more chicks, Leo and Bella, followed in February. Officials said Pikachu, Leo and Bella are the offspring of Donald and Daisy, while Lily was born to Popeye and Olive.
The additions have pushed the enclosure to its designed capacity of 25 birds, prompting plans to expand the facility from around 2,000 square feet to 3,000 square feet and raise its capacity to 40 penguins. Officials said the expansion, which involves integrating an adjoining space into the existing facility, is already under preparation and is expected to begin toward the end of the year.
During that construction phase, all 25 penguins may need to be moved to the zoo’s quarantine facility for about two to three months, and the popular penguin exhibit is likely to remain closed to visitors during that period — a temporary dent to the very attraction driving the zoo’s footfall.
Officials said the zoo has also approached other zoological parks across the country to relocate some birds, first proposing exchanges and later offering penguins as donations, but has found little interest. ‘The infrastructure required to house Humboldt penguins is highly specialised and expensive. Maintaining the habitat involves advanced temperature control, water filtration and veterinary care, which many zoos are not equipped for,’ a civic official said. A July 2023 proposal to exchange penguins with Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad has still not gone through.
For now, the Byculla Zoo’s penguin colony remains its main draw, even as the civic body works to give the growing population more room.
Wikimedia Commons/by Pradeep717
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