Dudley Zoo is Hand Rearing a Four-Week-Old Penguin Chick
By Jill HitchmanDudley, UK - Bird keepers at Dudley Zoological Gardens (DZG), in the West Midlands, are hand rearing a four-week-old penguin chick after its mum nested on a nearby bank instead of using nest boxes within the enclosure.
Curator, Matt Lewis, said: ³We had no option other than to remove the chick from the bank as it just wouldn¹t have survived. They nest could easily have flooded or the chick may have been taken by a seagull, as it was in a very vulnerable position.²
The Humboldt chick weighs around 500 grams and is being fed whole small sprats three times a day, taking approx 50 grams per feed.
Matt added: ³The chick will stay in the rearing room in the aviaries for another four or five weeks then will be introduced to the other penguins back in the enclosure.²
DZG is home to the largest group of Humboldt penguins in England, with about 60 birds currently in the colony.
Its highly successful breeding programme has been recognised by BIAZA (the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums), winning its award for sustained breeding of a species in captivity.
DZG¹s Humboldt programme began in 1991, and since that time staff have successfully parent reared more than 150 chicks, with youngsters transferred to nine different zoological collections across the country.
The Humboldt penguin is native to South America. It is named after the cold water current it swims in, which in turn was named after explorer Alexander von Humboldt. The species is classed as vulnerable, due to a declining population caused by over-fishing and habitat destruction.
DZG is experiencing a baby boom among its Indian blue peafowl.
Two peacocks and three peahens currently rule the roost in the zoo and castle grounds, but 12 chicks have recently hatched the best birth rate for many years at the 40-acre site.
Keepers had to intervene when the eggs were laid in the open on a ledge of one of the site's iconic Tecton buildings within the lion enclosure.
Curator Matt Lewis said: ³We were worried that the chicks would fall prey to predators. As well as the lions, we had concerns about foxes, so we took the eggs and incubated them.
³We now have 12 little peafowl, who are nearly a month old, living under heat lamps in our farm; it¹s a record as far as I know.
³Ten of the chicks are brown, and two are white.
³When they are old enough, in a few months time, they will be free to roam the zoo and castle grounds. They will live in groups until they pair off in the spring, so by next summer there should be a lot of strutting and preening going on.
³During the colder months we will feed them at the waterfowl enclosure, so that will become their winter home.²
Photo: DZG peng chick 1: Keeper Nicola Wright with the four-week-old Humboldt penguin chick that is being hand reared at Dudley Zoological Gardens.
To view Dudley Zoo's web page on Zoo and Aquarium Visitor, go to: http://www.zandavisitor.com/forumtopicdetail-2354-Dudley_Zoological_Gardens,_West_Midlands,_England
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