Recent Stories with tag baby penguin

Finally! The five Humboldt penguins born in April have joined the colony and are now on view in the Woodland Park Zoo's penguin exhibit.  The chicks have lost their fuzzy baby down, in favor of the sleek look, which is much more swim-friendly (see video above).  But you can still tell the babies from the adults by their light gray feathers. 

For the past few weeks, the chicks have prepared for their public debut with a lot of one-on-one time with the zookeepers to get used to interacting with zoo staff and to learn how to enter and exit the exhibit.  They've also been learning how to swim in a shallow pool. Of course, Flip camera footage ensues.

And because we just celebrated Independence Day, the zoo is offering everyone the chance to exercise their inalienable rights to name zoo babies:...

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That's the title of the first video released by the Woodland Park Zoo of their newborn Humboldt penguin, so why edit it?  The super-cute clip above is actually of the older of the two babies at the zoo, as this chick's sibling hatched just as expected on Easter. 

Both are being taken care of by first-time parents Dora and PJ, but are getting regular checkups by the zoo's staff.  That healthy little guy is just peeping away.  But he (or she--you can't tell with penguins at first) won't be little for much longer; the baby doubled its weight in only 6 days!  The older chick is now 5 ounces, while the brand-new baby is still half that size.

The penguin chicks won't be introduced to the public until sometime this summer, so for now we'll just have to settle for the videos and photos posted from time to time on the zoo's blog and YouTube channel.

Photo credit: Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo

Move over snow leopard cubs, the Woodland Park Zoo has a new baby on the block. A Humboldt penguin chick hatched yesterday. The wee baby penguin (only 2.1 ounces!) is the first offspring for mother Dora and father PJ, both three years old. And there's more where that came from: there's another five eggs--across three penguin pair nests in the zoo's Humboldt colony--at least three of which are believed to be fertile. Dora and PJ have another egg showing "pipping activity," and it's expected to hatch on Easter Sunday. Just like Jesus!

This'll be the first set of penguin babies hatched since the zoo got their Humboldt penguins last year and started on their species survival plan to breed this endangered bird. The chicks and parents will need some time to bond in private, so it won't be until early summer that you'll be able to see these little guys in the cute feathery flesh. By that point, the chicks will have molted from the grayish brown, downy feathers they're born with to completely gray feathers. It won't be till next year that they'll take on their adult look.