TORONTO, Ont. – While it may have been a quiet holiday for you, staff at the Toronto Zoo were likely busy.

The Toronto Zoo announced Friday that five endangered African penguins were born over the holiday season.

The penguin chicks are set to be on display at the zoo from mid-February.
Two more eggs are currently in incubation and are set to hatch sometime January.

Two of the newborn hatchling’s parents, Buddy and Pedro, made international headlines last year when zookeepers speculated that they were a gay couple.

The two were separated and paired with females and each pair had on hatchling in December.
The hatchlings are important to the survival of the species, as the zoo says the African penguin population is estimated to be less than 10 per cent of what it was in 1900.

The penguins’ largest threats include commercial fisheries and oil pollution.

source