Widowed emperor penguin moving to Taipei for mates

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The widowed emperor penguin in the National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium (NMOMBA) in Pingtung will be moved to Taipei Zoo at the end of March, so that the penguin can mate with other emperor penguins in the Taipei Zoo.
 NMOMBA originally had a pair of emperor penguins. Since the female penguin died two years ago, the male penguin became the zoo's sole emperor penguin and has been living with the other penguin species in the zoo.
In the mating season last year, seeing all the other penguins mating and laying eggs, the penguin found an egg-shaped stone and incubated it. People at the NMOMBA do not want the penguin to bear loneliness any longer. They have decided to send their only emperor penguin to the Taipei Zoo so that it can have some company.

Li Jan-Jung, spokesperson of NMOMBA, said since the female emperor penguin died, they had wanted to import another mate for the male penguin from Russia. After the H1N1 outbreak, however, there were many more restrictions on importing birds. Knowing that the Taipei Zoo is very experienced in penguins, and that they already have some emperor penguins, they have decided to move the penguin there.

The future offspring of the male emperor penguin will be divided by the two zoos. The first one will stay at Taipei Zoo, the second one will go to NMOMBA.

Emperor penguin is the tallest and heaviest of the living penguin species and is endemic to Antarctica. They are serially monogamous. They stay faithful to only one mate each year. After the females lay the eggs, they transfer the egg to the males for incubation for 64 consecutive days.

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