NEWPORT Two fuzzy, baseball-sized king penguins hatched at the Newport Aquarium, and parents and chicks are healthy and happy, biologists report.
The aquarium announced the news Thursday morning after observing the chicks and their interaction with their parents since Saturday morning. The two are the fifth and sixth penguins born at the aquarium since it opened 15 years ago.
The chicks, which aren't siblings, started to pip – or chip away –at their eggs Friday evening and poked out and fully hatched Saturday morning. "These were some of the biggest king penguin chicks I've ever seen," said Dan Clady, Newport Aquarium biologist in charge of the animal care at the cold penguin exhibit.
The dads – including the foster dad – are most engaged with the chicks, Clady said. They took the lead in incubating the eggs on their feet and under their bellies about 90 percent of the time. Once the chicks began to pip, dads turned over the hatching to moms, but since then, the dads again have been at the forefront of care. "We're going to let the parents do everything, if possible," Clady said. The chicks let their parents know if they're hungry with a low, deep chirp. They'll poke their heads out from under the caregiver's belly and then, mom or dad will provide a little bit of regurgitated food, Clady said.
You can see the chicks now at the aquarium – if you're observant and a little lucky. "They're on exhibit all the time. If people come over they'll have to be patient," Clady said. The chicks chirp for food about every 20 to 30 minutes. The two share an April 4 egg-laying date, said Jeff Geiser, spokesman for the aquarium.
King penguins Valentine (the foster mom) and Bubba (foster dad), cared for their foster egg and are taking good care of the their little chick, Geiser said. The biological parents of this chick are Dumas (mom) and Kroger (dad).
The other chick is a third-generation king penguin hatched at the Newport Aquarium. Its parents are Wednesday (mom) and Bebe (dad). Wednesday is the last chick that hatched at the Newport Aquarium, in 2010, Geiser said.
If you want to help choose names for the pair, go to Facebook and search Newport Aquarium beginning Friday. The aquarium will have several choices – all of which are "famous duos," Geiser said.
The aquarium won't know the sex of the chicks until they lay eggs themselves – or don't.
The simultaneous hatching of two unrelated king penguins is a rarity, Geiser said. Over the last 10 years at Association of Zoos and Aquariums institutions in the United States, there have been an average of only 14 king penguin simultaneous hatchings annually.
The Newport chicks were in the Kroger Penguin Palooza exhibit when they hatched.
Newport Aquarium is one of 16 institutions in the United States to exhibit king penguins. Kroger Penguin Palooza has nine adult king penguins, as well as chinstrap, gentoo, macaroni and rockhopper penguins. A sixth penguin species, the African black-footed penguin, is also on exhibit at Newport Aquarium in the Penguin House.
King penguins at a glance
• With their fluffy brown appearance, king penguin chicks look so different from adult king penguins that early explorers described them as an entirely different species, the woolly penguin.
• King penguins are among very few birds that don't build nests. Instead, they incubate their eggs under the belly on top of their feet.
• King penguins are the second-largest species of penguin in the world, with adults growing to more than 3 feet tall.
• King penguins can be found in the waters of the sub-Antarctic. They breed on many of the sub-Antarctic islands, such as South Georgia, Crozet, the Falklands, and the islands southeast of Australia and southwest of New Zealand.
Source: Newport Aquarium husbandry team
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