Friday, Aug. 27, 2010
Penguins on the march at the zoo
- jholleman@thestate.com
It was a potential zoo nightmare.
The first gentoo penguin chick born at Riverbanks Zoo was growing quickly, and at about 5 weeks old, had wandered away from his parents’ nest to the edge of the pool. Suddenly, two of the much larger adult king penguins crept up behind him and nudged him into the water. (Don’t judge. The penguins often push each other into the pool.)
Riverbanks Zoo has its first baby gentoo penguin. The little guy is still off exhibit until his non-bouyant baby feathers are replaced by adult feathers. The zoo has had plenty of rockhopper penguin births, but this is the first gentoo penguin born at Riverbanks. The young bird was born on June 27 and is being cared for by his parents, Jack and Zoey, in a climate-controlled area, off exhibit.
/Tim Dominick/tdominick@thestate.
The chick wasn’t old enough to swim safely; his fluffy grey feathers weren’t waterproof and would provide no protection from the 40-degree chill in the water. Fortunately, a zookeeper saw what happened, rushed into the penguin exhibit and scooped the chick out of the water with a long-handled net.
The scary incident led Riverbanks to take the chick, who has yet to be named, off exhibit until his waterproof feathers emerge. But the chick refused to eat food given to him by humans. So keepers decided to let the parent gentoos, Jack and Zoey, join the chick in the small off-exhibit enclosure, said Martin Vince, curator of birds.
The results have been so successful, Riverbanks might change its penguin procedure. This is the first gentoo chick born at Riverbanks since the zoo acquired eight gentoos from SeaWorld Orlando in 2006. But rockhopper and king penguin chicks have hatched at the zoo. Usually, penguin chicks are taken from their parents at about three weeks and hand-reared by keepers for several weeks until they are better equipped to swim.
“We found a happy medium that kept him with his parent,” Vince said.
Jack and Zoey haven’t seemed to miss the bigger exhibit pool for the three weeks they’ve been behind the scenes. In fact, Vince said, they probably would have been more stressed by not having their chick around. They feed him fish provided by the keepers and they’ve shown him by example how to swim in the shallow training pool.
The water in the training pool is a balmy 60 degrees, suitable for a penguin without waterproofing. But it won’t be long before the chick is ready for the big pool. He has shed, or plucked, all of his fluffy feathers except what appears to be a cross between a mohawk and a mullet hairstyle on the back of his head and neck. (That’s the one spot he can’t reach with his beak.)
Preening himself with oil from a gland near his tail, the chick has begun to waterproof his first crop of black and white feathers. As he finishes that job and his wings become more strong and stiff, he and his parents will return to the big pool. Vince suspects that might be about two more weeks.
“We need to be sure he has all his faculties about him before we put him back out there,” Vince said.
The scary incident led Riverbanks to take the chick, who has yet to be named, off exhibit until his waterproof feathers emerge. But the chick refused to eat food given to him by humans. So keepers decided to let the parent gentoos, Jack and Zoey, join the chick in the small off-exhibit enclosure, said Martin Vince, curator of birds.
The results have been so successful, Riverbanks might change its penguin procedure. This is the first gentoo chick born at Riverbanks since the zoo acquired eight gentoos from SeaWorld Orlando in 2006. But rockhopper and king penguin chicks have hatched at the zoo. Usually, penguin chicks are taken from their parents at about three weeks and hand-reared by keepers for several weeks until they are better equipped to swim.
“We found a happy medium that kept him with his parent,” Vince said.
Jack and Zoey haven’t seemed to miss the bigger exhibit pool for the three weeks they’ve been behind the scenes. In fact, Vince said, they probably would have been more stressed by not having their chick around. They feed him fish provided by the keepers and they’ve shown him by example how to swim in the shallow training pool.
The water in the training pool is a balmy 60 degrees, suitable for a penguin without waterproofing. But it won’t be long before the chick is ready for the big pool. He has shed, or plucked, all of his fluffy feathers except what appears to be a cross between a mohawk and a mullet hairstyle on the back of his head and neck. (That’s the one spot he can’t reach with his beak.)
Preening himself with oil from a gland near his tail, the chick has begun to waterproof his first crop of black and white feathers. As he finishes that job and his wings become more strong and stiff, he and his parents will return to the big pool. Vince suspects that might be about two more weeks.
“We need to be sure he has all his faculties about him before we put him back out there,” Vince said.
Source
New Penguin Chick at Riverbanks Zoo
Baby Gentoo penguin born at Riverbanks Zoo
Published: August 27, 2010
Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia welcomes it's first ever Gentoo penguin baby.
The male Gentoo makes 9 total Gentoo penguins at the zoo.The baby and his parents Zoey and Jack are being kept off exhibit until his adult feathers grow in and can be waterproofed.
His parents will feed him and teach him to swim so he can be released back into the penguin exhibit.
“We’re waiting to see how he does swimming and when he really learns how to swim well to make sure he can and then he’ll come out here with them so maybe a few weeks," said birdkeeper Sarah Guaracini.
The baby penguin does not have a name yet. His naming rights will be auctioned off at riverbanks Zoo-fari on October 2.
Source
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