ROYAL OAK, MI - The Detroit Zoo on Thursday let the first of about 80 penguins march to their new home.

The $29.5-million Polk Penguin Conservation Center officially opens to the public April 18, but the little birds who'll fill the new exhibit were given a few extra days to explore their new digs.

MLive will take a behind-the-scenes tour of the facility April 13.

The Zoo announced early Thursday that members of the Detroit Zoological Society will be welcomed to 12 after-hours events at the conservancy, which will give exclusive access to the new penguin exhibit.

The 33,000-square-foot penguin exhibit will feature two acrylic underwater tunnels, similar to those in the Arctic Ring of Life exhibit, that will offer views overhead and below visitors' feet of the penguins swimming in the water.

The chilled exhibit will house 25-foot-deep pools for the penguins to dive into.

Detroit Zoo Polk Penguin Conservation Center opens 95 Gallery: Detroit Zoo Polk Penguin Conservation Center opens

Visitors can expect to be immersed in the harsh arctic environment that many of these penguins would live in.

The center is designed to look like a tabular iceberg complete with a crevasse and waterfall.

The Polk Penguin Conservation Center will be the zoo's largest project ever, and the biggest penguin facility in the world.

Once the penguins move homes, the current penguin exhibit will be turned into a bat conservancy.

Ian Thibodeau is the business and development reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. He can be reached at ithibode@mlive.com, or follow him on Twitter.