Thursday, July 16, 2015

16 gentoo penguin chicks born during breeding season at zoo

STV
Gentoo penguin chick born at Edinburgh Zoo during the 2015 breeding season. Pic from the zoo.
Penguin: The 16 chicks are getting used to their new home.RZSS
Sixteen gentoo penguin chicks have been born during this year’s breeding season at Edinburgh Zoo.

The first eggs were laid just before Easter at the beginning of April and the first chick was born on May 4.

Since then a total of 16 chicks have been born to the colony.

The oldest are two and a half months old and the youngest are just four weeks.

Five of them are now old enough to be in the penguin crèche, separate from their parents, where they will learn to swim and feed.

Keeper Dawn Nicoll said: "We have had a very successful breeding season this year and we are very happy with the outcome. The chicks are starting to wander from the nest now and explore their new home; however, there are still a number of much younger chicks that will still sit on the nests for a while.

"The hatchlings' personalities are starting to show now and they are definitely a feisty bunch. They are becoming more confident and the older ones are starting to hand-feed. Breeding season is always a busy time for us, but we will get a lot busier now as the chicks start wandering around and moving to the crèche."

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