Featured Image Credit: Tierpark Hellabrunn/Marc Müller
By: Sarah Sharkey
A young King penguin recently joined the enclosure of older penguins in the Scott Aquarium at the Omaha Zoo. The chick is only four months old, so the sex of the baby is still undetermined.
The chick is not yet named, but it is certainly adorable. Aside from just being cute, this penguin is an important link for the North American King penguin population. The chick was the first offspring to be hatched from two wild-hatched birds. The genetic importance of this penguin cannot be understated. The young chick represents a new diversity in the gene pool that was previously unavailable.
Based on the new genetic source, the future North American King penguin population will have a more secure and healthy future. The little chick was so important that the zoo caretakers decided to raise the chick by hand, instead of allowing the parents to raise it.
The egg was incubated artificially for 54 days before it was hatched in February. Caretakers at the zoo were able to raise the chick in a special rearing room. Care of the hatchling included feeding it a smoothie of fish and vitamins to mimic that regurgitated food that a parent would provide to a chick. At four months old, the chick is ready to eat whole fish and be introduced to other penguins.
The chick will be in a “chick pen” in the main enclosure for one month while the last of its feathers grow in. After that, it will be free to mingle with the other birds.
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