Gerrard and Rooney begin training at Chester Zoo (GALLERY)

Jun 12, 2014
By Kirsty McHale

Namesakes of Brazil 2014 team are joined by the heroes of 1966, Banks, Moore and Hurst

As Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney prepare to kick off England’s World Cup campaign in Brazil this weekend, their feathered namesakes have joined the penguin class of 2014 and started at their new crèche.

The new charges at Chester Zoo each year are given names adhering to a particular theme. And for the 2014 chicks, there was only one option. The brand new penguin chicks have been named after English World Cup stars past and present.

Rooney and Gerrard, who hatched in the spring, have moved into a nursery at the zoo, alongside classmates Banks, Moore and Hurst, named after England's World Cup winning heroes of 1966.
The England penguins will be taught how to swim, hunt and feed in water during their time in the nursery.

Andy Woolham, penguin team manager at Chester Zoo, said: "Rooney is so far showing a great appetite for learning. When the time comes we hope he will dive with great elegance. "Gerrard is still with mum at the moment but we’re confident he’ll soon be showing real promise and could end up top of our mini-league. "Hopefully the great form that our penguin chicks are starting to show will be matched by their namesakes out in Brazil."

The penguins are an endangered South American species, which come from the coastal areas of Peru and Chile. The new arrivals mean the zoo now has a colony of 42.

Chester Zoo funds conservation initiatives in the penguins’ homeland to help them in their natural habitat, where they are faced with many pressures including over fishing of their food and habitat loss.

Mr Woolham added: "For our penguin chicks this is a learning process of two halves. We kick off their education with lessons in and around our shallow nursery pool where the main goal is to build up their confidence. "Then, when we’re happy they can take fish from our keepers and no longer need to rely on regurgitated food from mum and dad, they graduate to our main pool. Here they continue the learning process by following the lead of the adults in the colony."

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