Jared Schaller:
Welcome to Behind the Pyramids, a Moody Gardens podcast. I’m your host, Jared Schaller, and I’m very excited for today’s guest biologist, Janie Konetski. I can’t pronounce your last name—I'm sure that’s alright. I forgive you. You take care of a bunch of animals here at Moody Gardens, with an emphasis on my favorite animal, penguins. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me.

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Janie Konetski:
Absolutely, it’s a pleasure. I’m happy to talk with you.

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Jared Schaller:
Janie, okay, let’s talk about it first. What do you do? Some people may not know what a biologist does. Can you describe what a day in the life is like for you as a biologist here at Moody Gardens?

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Janie Konetski:
Absolutely. So, as a biologist here, there’s a lot that goes into it. Mostly, it’s animal husbandry and taking care of the animals throughout the day. We get here bright and early at 7:30 a.m., and start by hosing down the exhibits top to bottom, making sure they’re nice and scrubbed and clean for everybody—penguins and people alike. Then, we prep all their diets for the day. Depending on which animals I’m taking care of, the penguins can go through about 150 pounds of food a day, so getting all of their food prepped definitely takes a while. After that, we get to feeding everybody. Usually around 11 o’clock, we start feeding all of our penguins. They’re all really good about coming to their stations and getting ready to eat. In the afternoon, it’s programs, programs, programs. I absolutely love doing penguin encounters. It’s one of my favorite things about my job. It’s a program where guests can come behind the scenes and learn a little more about how we take care of these guys. Every day, you get to meet one of our wonderful ambassador penguins and even watch them make some beautiful artwork with their feet. Painting with penguins has definitely become not only our penguins’ favorite enrichment activity, but also one of my favorites and the absolute guest favorite too. After that, we feed the penguins one more time, clean everything up, and wrap it up for the day.

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Jared Schaller:
I’m jealous of that.

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Janie Konetski:
It is a lot of fun. It’s a little stinky, but you get over that part pretty quick.

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Jared Schaller:
So, let’s talk about the different species. What types of penguins can we find here at Moody Gardens?

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Janie Konetski:
That’s a great question. We have seven different species of penguins here at Moody Gardens out of the 18 found all over the world. In our cold-weather exhibit designed after the South Atlantic area, we have six different species. Our largest are the king penguins—they get about three feet tall and weigh anywhere between 35 to upwards of 50 pounds, so definitely on the larger side. Then we have our Gentoo penguins with their little white headbands going across the top of their heads.

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Of course, my personal favorite are the crested species—all of the penguins with the funny little eyebrow feathers. We have three different species of crested penguins: macaroni penguins with the full unibrow going all the way across; our southern rockhoppers with a bit shorter yellow feathers; and our northern rockhoppers with the big, long pigtails sticking out to the sides. Then we also have beautiful chinstrap penguins with their notable black chinstrap. We also house a tropical species—the Humboldt penguins—which are found at the very end of our aquarium in the lobby area. We have 12 of those guys hanging out over there. In total, we have 110 penguins here at Moody Gardens.

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Jared Schaller:
Wow. I have a question about the crested penguins. When penguins molt, do they get new ones of those feathers too?

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Janie Konetski:
Yes, they replace every single feather on their body all at once in a process called a catastrophic molt. It sounds really scary, but it just means it happens all at once. You’ll see them fluff out really big. Their new feathers grow in underneath the old ones—kind of like a baby tooth getting pushed out. It all comes out at once. They look a little crazy for a couple of weeks, but after that, they’re good to go.

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Jared Schaller:
So it’s a one-time catastrophic molt.

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Jared Schaller:
I’ve always been curious—since you’ve worked with penguins for four years, can penguins recognize individual humans?

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Janie Konetski:
They’re certainly capable of doing that. There isn’t a lot of research on it, but penguins can recognize each other. In the large colonies they live in, they can recognize their mates and chicks by their voices. Each has their own unique voice, just like people do, so that’s one way they can tell each other apart. It could be that they recognize the way our voices sound most of the time, and they like those voices, so they hang out with those people a bit more. They also can recognize physical characteristics of their mates. There isn’t much research on this as far as I’m aware, but they definitely have the capability. So it’s possible they can do it with humans too.

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Jared Schaller:
So, how do penguins communicate with each other?

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Janie Konetski:
These guys are extremely vocal. If you’ve ever been in our penguin exhibit, you know how noisy it is back there. Their voices can carry up to half a mile, especially when they’re calling out or excited. Many do what’s called ecstatic displays, where they throw their head back, sing their little song, make their noise, and then usually bow their heads. Our king penguins are definitely known for that. Their voice is the main way they tell each other apart in those large colonies they usually live in.

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Jared Schaller:
Let’s talk about food. What do penguins usually eat? What’s their diet like?

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Janie Konetski:
Great question. We go through about 100 to 150 pounds of fish a day just for the penguins. We have two main kinds of fish we feed them. There’s a smaller fish called capelin—it looks like a sardine and is pretty much their vegetable, with lots of good vitamins and nutrients. We give that to all the penguins seven days a week, and it’s a favorite for our little guys. Then, the larger penguins, like our kings and Gentoo penguins, need more fat in their diet, so we provide herring for that. It’s like giving them a big steak twice a week. Of course, we also give them dessert—we toss in little fish called silversides, which look like minnows, daily to mimic hunting and foraging and keep them acting like penguins.

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Jared Schaller:
I prefer salmon.

Janie Konetski:
You’d be surprised—I still eat sushi even after working with fish all the time.

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Jared Schaller:
You get to work with penguins—a dream job for many people. What’s one of your most memorable moments?

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Janie Konetski:
Oh my goodness, there are so many. But honestly, the biggest moment for me was the first time I got to hold a baby penguin. They’re adorable, very tiny—about the size of the palm of your hand when they hatch. Seeing the whole process—the parents picking their mate, laying the egg, and life starting from that egg—was really rewarding. I’ve never had pets with babies at home, so it was a cool experience. Watching those chicks grow into adults, get trained for encounters, and become ambassador birds has been my favorite moment so far.

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Jared Schaller:
So some of the chicks you cared for are now adults you interact with daily?

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Janie Konetski:
Yes, one of our king penguins, Stroud, just turned a year old in January. I was the one who first picked him up and put him on the scale. Seeing him grow and train to be an ambassador penguin has been wonderful.

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Jared Schaller:
Are king penguin chicks bigger when they hatch?

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Janie Konetski:
Yes, they’re a little bigger. Chinstrap penguin chicks are smaller—about the size of a chicken nugget when they hatch. Smaller species like chinstraps are usually fully grown by three months old, going from chicken nugget to full rotisserie chicken in that time. King penguins take up to a year to grow. They start out bald and begin growing downy feathers two to three weeks after hatching. It can take them up to a year to lose those feathers and become adult penguins ready to swim.

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Jared Schaller:
You have an interesting backstory with Moody Gardens. You originally started as a youth volunteer?

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Janie Konetski:
Yes, I started as a youth volunteer in the Savvy program when I was 14, in 2012. I volunteered for four years through high school, during summers and the school year. I honestly never left Moody Gardens. I loved being here. The first year in the youth volunteer program, you do a lot of education work—talking to guests about animals and learning yourself. From the second year on, you volunteer behind the scenes and work with some animals. I started with penguins at 15, and some of the animals I worked with in 2013 are still here now. After volunteering, I worked in the education department for about four years, running the youth volunteer program. Then in 2021, I was hired as a penguin biologist, focusing on penguin encounters and educational programs. I have a background in education and love talking about things I’m passionate about, so it’s been a great fit. This month marks four years working directly with penguins.

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Jared Schaller:
Did you always know you loved animals growing up?

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Janie Konetski:
Yes, but I never knew exactly which animals I wanted to work with. I loved all of them. For a while, I thought it would be sharks, then fish, but when the opportunity with penguins came up, I never looked back.

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Jared Schaller:
Great white sharks or cute penguins?

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Janie Konetski:
That’s still hard to choose. But we’ll convince you one day.

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Jared Schaller:
Yeah, and you’ll see me on the news for bad things. For those watching, sometimes as a teen it’s hard to figure out what you want to do. Do you have advice for those thinking about becoming a biologist or watching this?

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Janie Konetski:
Absolutely. The best advice is to get your foot in the door. There are many ways to do that. If you’re not old enough for our youth volunteer program yet, we have summer camps through the education department that are a great introduction. Any volunteer or internship opportunity is a great way to start. If I hadn’t started volunteering at 14, I probably wouldn’t be where I am now. I’m very grateful for the opportunities Moody Gardens has given me. So, get your foot in the door.

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Jared Schaller:
I love hearing that because sometimes you don’t know what you want to do until later. It’s great to test it out as a volunteer.

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Janie Konetski:
Exactly. I really liked the behind-the-scenes aspect of the youth volunteer program because they let you work in different areas. I got experience with penguins, fish, and the rainforest area. It helped me explore different species and find what I enjoyed.

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Jared Schaller:
Sharks are next?

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Janie Konetski:
Coming soon.

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Jared Schaller:
Last question—give me your best pitch. Why should someone come visit Moody Gardens?

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Janie Konetski:
That’s a good one. I’ve been coming to Moody Gardens since I was about four years old. I grew up in the area. It’s a stable part of the community. My parents brought us along, and all the kids in the neighborhood got to come. I fell in love with marine life because of places like Moody Gardens. It’s a great place to explore. Volunteering here and learning about how it all works behind the scenes has been an awesome experience. So come to Moody Gardens mostly to learn more. There are so many opportunities to learn—not just about marine life, but rainforest animals and rotating exhibits in the Discovery Pyramid. So many opportunities to learn.

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Jared Schaller:
That’s great to hear. You never know what you’ll get passionate about—you might not be into all animals, but then you meet a pufferfish or shark, and want to learn more.

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Janie Konetski:
Exactly, that was definitely me.

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Jared Schaller:
Thank you so much, Moody Gardens biologist Janie Konetski. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me.

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Janie Konetski:
Absolutely, it was a pleasure.

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