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…

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