Same-sex penguin couple raising rare chick at zoo

Nature: Penguins successful Antarctica

Nature: Penguins successful Antarctica 02:12

Scampi and Flounder, a brace of antheral Humboldt penguins, are stepping up to rise a chick astatine Chester Zoo successful the United Kingdom. 

The chick is 1 of 10 calved during what zoo squad manager Zoe Sweetman described successful a Thursday news release arsenic a "bumper twelvemonth for the penguins here." Humboldt penguins are 1 of the astir at-risk of the world's 17 taxon of penguins and are listed arsenic susceptible by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. There are present 63 penguins successful the colony astatine the zoo.

Penguin brace Wotsit and Peach laid 2 of the eggs that hatched this year, according to the zoo. Experts astatine the zoo shared the eggs betwixt the nests of Wotsit and Peach and Scampi and Flounder. 

"The zoo's vertebrate experts cautiously shared the eggs betwixt the 2 nests to assistance springiness some chicks the champion imaginable commencement and assistance amended chances of palmy fledging," the zoo wrote successful the quality release. 

Same-sex penguin mates Scampi and Flounder are raising a chick astatine the Chester Zoo. Chester Zoo

Penguin eggs are incubated for astir 40 days and, erstwhile an ovum is produced, it takes astir 3 days earlier the chick hatches. 

While a zoo spokesperson said Scampi and Flounder person ne'er hatched and raised a chick before, same-sex penguin couples are not unheard of. In 2018, two antheral penguins astatine the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium successful Australia hatched a chick, and past successful 2020, a brace of pistillate penguins astatine an aquarium successful Spain welcomed a babe chick. In 2022, a antheral penguin couple astatine a zoo successful New York authorities became parents.

Penguin parents stock feeding and parenting duties. Chester Zoo keepers supply fish, which the parents swallow and blend into a "protein-rich soup," which they regurgitate to provender the chicks, according to the zoo.

Eight of the 10 penguins hatched astatine Chester Zoo this twelvemonth person been named successful the weeks since they hatched successful April.

"This twelvemonth we've gone with a celestial taxable for naming the chicks and we've had a batch of amusive coming up with names inspired by stars, constellations and cosmic wonders," Sweetman said. 

Scampi and Flounder's chick Chester Zoo

The zoo is taking suggestions connected societal media earlier deciding connected the names of 2 of the chicks, but has named the others: Ursa, Alcyone, Quasar, Orion, Dorado, Cassiopeia, Altair and Xena. Scampi and Flounder's chick volition person its sanction picked connected societal media. The zoo has not specified if the chick is antheral oregon female.

Since their births, the fluffy penguin chicks person astir quadrupled successful size, according to the zoo. 

"They're present days distant from a truly breathtaking milestone — their precise archetypal swimming lessons, which is ever a thrill to witnesser arsenic they dive into the excavation for the precise archetypal time," Sweetman said. 

Humboldt penguins, autochthonal to South America, are susceptible to climate change and situation loss, according to the zoo. Population numbers person decreased by astir 85% successful the past 40 years.

"The penguin colony astatine Chester Zoo plays a captious relation successful the planetary breeding programme for the species, helping to support a genetically steadfast colonisation successful conservation zoos crossed Europe," according to the zoo. 

Humboldt penguins are carnivores, eating tiny food and crustaceans, according to the zoo. They walk up to 75% of their lives successful water. They typically unrecorded 12 to 15 years, but tin unrecorded up to 20 years successful quality care. 

Many penguins are monogamous, according to the zoo. 

• Penguin
• United Kingdom