April 21, 2013
A clutch of four Humboldt Penguin chicks hatched at the United Kingdom’s Chester Zoo have been named after characters from the British science fiction TV show Doctor Who, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
The first of the chicks, which hatched on April 17, was named Doctor. The next three chicks are named Tardis, Davros and Dalek.
Photo Credit: Chester Zoo
Zoo keepers are providing intense daily care to the four chicks, including daily weigh-ins to make sure the chicks are getting enough food from their parents. Keeper Karen Neech said, “With extra mouths to feed a lot more food is required, so it’s a busy time for both us and the adult Penguins. We provide the parents with fish and they then turn it into a high-protein soup, which they then regurgitate to feed to the chicks.”
Humboldt Penguins are native to the coastal areas of Peru and Chile and are named for the chilly Humboldt ocean current in which they swim. They are listed as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The new arrivals mean the zoo now has a colony of more than 40 Humboldt Penguins. Each pair lays two eggs and will incubate them for 40 days up to hatching. Both parents are then involved in rearing the young.
At around eight weeks the chicks will leave the nest and learn how to swim in the zoo’s ‘baby pool’ before joining their parents in the main pool.
source
No comments:
Post a Comment