Popular penguins help Kansas City Zoo reach record

Attendance at the Kansas City Zoo hit a record 882,194 last year, driven in large part by the opening of the penguin exhibit in October.

About 90,000 people visited the animal park in the six weeks after the birds’ debut.

The goal for 2013 had been 835,000.

Zoo attendance peaked at 714,367 in 1998, then began to slide before rebounding and rising steadily since 2006. It reached a new high of 824,218 in 2012.

The zoo hopes to reach 1 million visitors by 2016.

This story was originally published January 16, 2014 at 8:13 PM with the headline "Popular penguins help Kansas City Zoo reach record."