King Penguin chick has gone from just a few inches tall and 0.5lb to more than two and a half feet

 From runt to supersized:

• The tiny, grey chick was just six inches tall when it was born last September 
• But within a few months it has transformed into a 2.5ft tall big ball of fluff  
• The King Penguin is the first to be born in the UK for more than five years

By Hannah Parry For Mailonline

Published: 09:04 EST, 6 February 2015

This King Penguin chick- the first to be born in the UK in five years- has gone from a tiny six inch weakling to a staggering two and a half feet tall giant in a matter of months.

It was weak, wrinkly and grey, unable to even stand on its own two feet when it was born at Birdland Park and Gardens in Bourton on the Water, Gloucestershire, last September.

Now the big ball of fluff has rocketed from a puny half a pound to a whopping 1.5 stones in four months on a diet of liquidized herrings. 

In the few short months since it was born (left), the chick has shot up to a staggering two and a half feet tall

In the few short months since it was born (left), the chick has shot up to a staggering two and a half feet tall (right) complete with a thick layer of fluffy brown feathers

 

 Britain's only King Penguin chick has undergone a remarkable transformation in just four months - ballooning from half a pound to a whopping stone and a half

The baby penguin was being hand-reared by the park's expert keepers it has gone from strength to strength, transforming into a full-sized penguin.

And with another predicted big freeze just around the corner, chick looks more than prepared thanks to its thick new thick, downy brown coat. 

Eventually the feathers will be replaced by a slick coat that will allow the penguin to take to the water and join the others in its colony.

But until that happens it is content snuggling in with its huge winter coat on. 

 

The rather ugly baby penguin was weak, wrinkly and grey, unable to even stand on its own two feet when it was born

 

 Now the King Penguin looks much better prepared for the cold winter weather-  although it must still avoid the water until its adult plumage comes through

Simon Blackwell, the park's manager, said: 

'The transformation of our King penguin chick is incredible - just a few months ago it was tiny and wrinkly, and now it is a huge ball of fluff standing at two and half feet tall. Penguins have to put on a huge growth spurt in their first few months in order to have enough feather and fat to survive the freezing winters. They first develop a massive downy coat to keep them warm then as they get older the down is replaced by slick feathers. At first their new coat is grey but eventually they develop the colours we know them for.

The tiny King Penguin chick, the only one born in the UK in five years, measured just over 15cm long or  around six inches when it was born

'While the chick still has its downy coat it can't go in the water because otherwise it would be too heavy and it would drown. Once it develops its shiny coat it will be able to swim, which is the first big step to becoming an adult. The huge fluffy coat is the penguin equivalent of us wrapping up in a heavy tog duvet. While the rest of us have been shivering in the cold these past few weeks the King penguins have been loving it - it's more like home for them.'

King penguins - Aptenodytes patagonicus in Latin - are the second largest species of penguin, growing as tall as three feet and weighing up to 2.5 stones. They are distinguishable by their orange tinted breasts, cheeks and beaks.

In the wild they live off small fish and squid and are native to the islands of northern Antarctica. Edinburgh Zoo is famously home to Sir Nils Olav, a King penguin which in 1972 was appointed Colonel-in-Chief of the Norwegian Royal Guard.

ANTARCTICA'S KING PENGUIN

King Penguins are the second largest of the penguin species, growing to an average of just over three feet tall and weighing 33lbs. Like many penguins, fully grown but unfledged chicks can appear to be larger than the adult birds, thanks to their thick fluffy coats. As adults the flightless birds shed their fluff and develop the King Penguin's distinctive bright orange and black feathers around their necks and heads.

They live in huge colonies on the ice slopes of the sub-Antarctic islands, and there is an estimated world population of 2 million breeding pairs. The largest breed of all the penguins is the Emperor which stands 4 feet high and weighing up to 99lbs.

source