penguin

This has to be one of the older penguin tanks in the country that allows underwater viewing. This was the only penguin in the water that day, so there wasn't much to see from underneath. Not to mention all the algae made it hard to see very far under water!

This is obviously an outdoor tank. The Detroit zoo has a big and elaborate habitat for cold-weather penguins. A few penguins actually live in warm weather, and can tolerate a temperate summer.

I like the way you can see the wake building in front of the penguin. I never thought about an ordinary-sized critter creating a noticeable wake, moving through the water, until one time I watched my daughter during her swim lesson. It was a revelation to me, how much the water moved out of the way as she cut through the water with fins on her feet. Swimmers going at speed don't need to turn their heads as far to breathe as you might think, because their passage through the water lowers the surface of the water just next to their heads. Who knew.