Zoo keepers surprised by the birth of first king penguin in six years

Published on Monday 21 December 2009 09:51

IT HAS been a bit quiet of late in the hatches and matches department of the king penguin house at Edinburgh Zoo.

But things are starting to p-p-pick up after the birth of the first chick in six years, which comes despite jealous male penguins trying to steal the baby away for themselves.

The two-month-old penguin, which was only let out of its special protective pen last week, is now ruling the roost, with all of the other penguins – ten males and two females – battling for the little one's affection.

The as yet unnamed newcomer is the nephew/niece of Edinburgh Zoo's most famous penguin, Nils Olav, who was last year awarded a knighthood by the Norwegian King's Guard.

The egg's arrival in August came as a complete surprise to zoo keepers, as king penguins normally lay in June and July. Some of the zoo's penguins were so desperate to play father to the surprise delivery that they had to be given fake eggs to distract them.

King penguins are notoriously difficult to breed, because non-parents can get jealous and rowdy and will try to snatch eggs, often resulting in them getting cracked or damaged.

Lesley Garland, penguin keeper at Edinburgh Zoo, explained that the staff had taken extra precautions to ensure that the breeding was a success this time.

She said: "We kept the parents and egg in a special enclosure. We didn't want to risk losing another baby, because a penguin couple only produce one egg every two years, and because we only have two females it is particularly difficult to achieve success.

"The male penguins get very jealous of the breeding pair, and have tried to spook them so that they can steal the egg, but if they got it, they couldn't successfully hatch it, because you need two penguins to look after an egg. One needs to hunt for food, while the other penguin incubates."

In the past week the penguin chick, which will remain covered in a thick layer of warm brown feathers for ten months, has been allowed out of the special pen for one hour per day, so that it can bond with its future housemates.

Keepers are also starting to introduce the baby to sprats.

Ms Garland said: "It's starting to get the hang of it and is trying the new food. It's a feisty little thing.

We don't yet know the sex of the penguin because they need to get DNA-tested, but we're praying for a girl to address the gender imbalance."

Edinburgh Zoo is world famous for its penguins after becoming the first zoo in history to breed captive penguins in 1919.