The holiday season has been a busy one for nesting penguins at the
Toronto Zoo — five chicks have hatched to four couples, including Buddy
and Pedro, once famously dubbed the “gay penguins.”
All five chicks are healthy and show promise of surviving past the crucial three-week mark. Most chicks who make it past that point will have healthy lives.
Of five chicks born last breeding season, just three survived. Zookeepers are optimistic that a year of bonding over buckets of fish, swims and long waddles on the beach has prepared the couples for better breeding.
Separated from each other for the breeding program in 2011, Buddy and Pedro spent all summer with their respective female mates, Farai and Thandiwey.
The first attempt to breed them was met with challenges — Pedro and his partner Thandiwey failed to produce any eggs, while Buddy and Farai had two chicks but they were smothered because the pair built the nest too small.
Both are now fathers with their respective female partners. Pedro came first, with his chick hatching Dec. 16, followed by Buddy on Dec. 23.
“Last year we were establishing pairs so we had to physically separate the birds (when nesting). Now they’re all together,” said Brandon Wyatt, a zookeeper who has been working with the penguins since they arrived in 2011. “Our pairs all held very strongly.”
At first there was much public hand-wringing over the separation of Pedro and Buddy, but their offspring is essential to keeping the endangered African penguin species around. And the two seem to be handling the breakup well.
“They’re certainly still friends — we’re very fortunate that our group gets along very well with each other. They found their own little spots here and there, but they definitely will all swim around in the pool together. Certainly at feeding time they’ll swarm around the buckets together,” said Wyatt.
Eggs started hatching Dec. 10, with D.J. and Ziggy’s chick the first out of the shell. Greenbird and Colby hit the high score, hatching two chicks on Dec. 20 and 22.
There may be more on the way. Two eggs are still incubating, expected to hatch mid-January. Wyatt remains optimistic about the first three crucial weeks, but the zoo is holding off on any plans for naming the chicks until they can be certain of their survival.
“Survivorship of young birds like that can be kind of touch and go, especially in the first few weeks,” said Wyatt. “We’re seeing encouraging signs that all the parents are doing very good jobs of taking care of their chicks.”
source
All five chicks are healthy and show promise of surviving past the crucial three-week mark. Most chicks who make it past that point will have healthy lives.
Of five chicks born last breeding season, just three survived. Zookeepers are optimistic that a year of bonding over buckets of fish, swims and long waddles on the beach has prepared the couples for better breeding.
Separated from each other for the breeding program in 2011, Buddy and Pedro spent all summer with their respective female mates, Farai and Thandiwey.
The first attempt to breed them was met with challenges — Pedro and his partner Thandiwey failed to produce any eggs, while Buddy and Farai had two chicks but they were smothered because the pair built the nest too small.
Both are now fathers with their respective female partners. Pedro came first, with his chick hatching Dec. 16, followed by Buddy on Dec. 23.
“Last year we were establishing pairs so we had to physically separate the birds (when nesting). Now they’re all together,” said Brandon Wyatt, a zookeeper who has been working with the penguins since they arrived in 2011. “Our pairs all held very strongly.”
At first there was much public hand-wringing over the separation of Pedro and Buddy, but their offspring is essential to keeping the endangered African penguin species around. And the two seem to be handling the breakup well.
“They’re certainly still friends — we’re very fortunate that our group gets along very well with each other. They found their own little spots here and there, but they definitely will all swim around in the pool together. Certainly at feeding time they’ll swarm around the buckets together,” said Wyatt.
Eggs started hatching Dec. 10, with D.J. and Ziggy’s chick the first out of the shell. Greenbird and Colby hit the high score, hatching two chicks on Dec. 20 and 22.
There may be more on the way. Two eggs are still incubating, expected to hatch mid-January. Wyatt remains optimistic about the first three crucial weeks, but the zoo is holding off on any plans for naming the chicks until they can be certain of their survival.
“Survivorship of young birds like that can be kind of touch and go, especially in the first few weeks,” said Wyatt. “We’re seeing encouraging signs that all the parents are doing very good jobs of taking care of their chicks.”
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