Dubai facility gets ready to host snow penguins

Snow penguins now living permanently at Ski Dubai's 25-storey snow-covered wonderland don't usually give interviews to the media. But at month's end, Dubai's newest stars will meet the press in a media briefing before the mountain-themed ski hill opens its newest attraction, Snow Penguins at Ski Dubai, to the world sometime in February. To be housed year-round in the 22,500 square-metre facility chilled to a constant -1 degree C to -2C and covered with snow, the colony of penguins "will live in a specially created environment which mirrors the Antarctica", Ski Dubai said in a statement. Exciting attraction Article continues below The seafaring birds are part of what Ski Dubai said is a "multi-generation breeding programme at Sea World" and were born and bred in captivity. Organisers billed the environmental awareness project as "the world's first exciting attraction of its kind" and pledged that patrons young and old will be offered a rare chance to see penguins in their new environment. "Visitors will soon have a rare opportunity to interact with these remarkable birds in a one-of-a-kind intimate encounter and learn about their unique traits and habits. Mall of the Emirates visitors will also be able to enjoy viewing the snow penguin's natural antics during the grand presentation of the ‘March of the Penguins', starting in February 2012," the ski resort said.