Maryland Zoo African Penguin Colony Welcomes Their 1000th Chick!
Featured Image Credit: Maryland Zoo
By Sarah Sharkey
The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore has reached an impressive milestone. They have officially hatched 1,000 African penguin chicks in their history. That is a lot of chicks!
The 1,000th chick hatched on February thirteenth and was the 13th chick of the 2017-2018 breeding season. The chick will not be seen by the public for several months as it grows. It needs to reach several milestones such as growing in its juvenile feathers and passing a swim test before it can join the other penguins in the exhibit.
This chick is the 94th member of the colony at the Maryland Zoo.
Image Credit: Maryland Zoo
The Maryland Zoo is the proud caretaker of the largest colony of African penguins in North America. It is also the recipient of many prestigious awards such as the Edward H. Bean Award for the “African Penguin Long-term Propagation Program” from the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) in 1996.
Jen Kottyan, a manager at the zoo had this to say about the program, “The work here is not just about breeding penguins. Our program has grown substantially to incorporate health and disease studies, sharing expertise with zoos and aquariums in breeding and rearing chicks, holding a seat on the African Penguin SSP Steering Committee, having two of our veterinarians as SSP Veterinary Advisors and now leading various aspects of the new AZA Saving Animals From Extinction (SAFE) program.”
Hopefully, this team will continue to learn from this colony for years to come.
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