Eleven Humboldt penguin chicks have hatched at the zoo, the most to hatch in one season at the zoo for more than 10 years.
The new arrivals are being weighed regularly and our expert keepers are keeping a close eye on their growth and development.
So far, they have been delighted to see that both mum and dad are playing active roles in helping care for the youngsters and are happy that the chicks have already been nurtured beyond the first, and most critical, 40 days of their life.
To keep track of new chicks keepers choose a different theme to inspire their names each season, with previous topics being NHS heroes, brands of crisps, chocolate bars and British Olympic athletes. In keeping with this tradition, Nettle, Thistle, Dandelion, Tulip and Daffodil have been confirmed as some of the names amongst the new arrivals!
Humboldt penguins are becoming increasingly rare and are now listed as Vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Found on the rocky coastal shores of Peru and Chile, the penguins face threats from climate change, over-fishing of their natural food sources and rising acidity and temperature levels in the oceans – all causing the penguins to search further from their nests for fish which increases their vulnerability.
“This year has been a really good year for the penguins with the arrival of 11 new chicks – the most we’ve welcomed during hatching season here at the zoo for more than a decade.
Zoe Sweetman, Team Manager
Zoe continues:
“We’re delighted to say that all of the chicks are looking really healthy and the parents have done a superb job of caring for their new arrivals up to this point.
“As keepers, our main role in raising the new youngsters is to ensure the adult penguins have all they need. Sometimes this can mean providing extra fish, which the parents swallow, churn into a high-protein soup, and then regurgitate to feed the chicks. We also weigh the chicks regularly so that we can monitor their development – on average they’ve gone from a mere 80g to 2.5kg in just 40 days. It’s been a huge team effort.
“Each year the team chooses a new naming theme for the chicks. With 11 to name we could have chosen to name after an entire football team, but this year we’ve decided to go with plants. Nettle and Thistle are the more spiky characters among the group, whereas Tulip and Daffodil have colourful personalities.”
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