Penguin has first paddle at Dudley Zoo

7 July 2016
 

The baby penguin with Section Leader Nicola Wright Credit: Dudley Zoo

A baby penguin has taken his first paddle in Penguin Bay at Dudley Zoo, with a bit of persuasion from Section Leader Nicola Wright.
The four month-old Humboldt, who has been named Sebastian, has been hand-reared since he was discovered abandoned on the sand a few weeks after its birth.
He has been spending the last few weeks visiting the poolside colony, the UK's largest colony of parent-reared rare Humboldts.
The chick, who is now starting to sport his juvenile water resistant feathers, was also given his first taster of the pool.
Keeper Kriss Pearson explains more about Sebastian in the video below:

Nicola said:

We introduce the penguins to the water quite slowly. We do it on pool cleaning day and get them in when there’s only a small level of new water in when we’re refilling it, so we’re not literally throwing them in at the deep end.
But the chick seemed a bit hesitant to get his feet wet and the first experience was just a quick paddle as he turned and followed me out of the pool instead.
We’ll keep trying and he will soon get used to it.

– Nicola Wright

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