A tiny Humboldt penguin chick has hatched!

We’re celebrating the arrival of a threatened Humboldt penguin chick

Keepers say the one-week-old youngster is growing well and is very responsive. Parents Echo and Lilly, two of the oldest Humboldt penguins in our colony, are both involved in the rearing the Humboldt penguin chick, who will not leave the nest for around eight weeks.

Our Senior Birds Keeper Christopher Kent, explained: “We don’t yet know the sex of the chick. The penguins have been using nesting materials and guano (seabird droppings) as they would in the wild to make their nests. We are very much ‘hands off’ with bird rearing and only intervene where absolutely necessary. Echo and Lilly are both experienced parents and they are doing a fantastic job.

“Both parents will take turns to incubate the eggs for around 40 days and care for their young once hatched. The chick is fed regurgitated fish by its parents as you can see in the footage.”

Humboldt penguins are found along the coasts of Peru and Chile, and are listed as vulnerable to extinction on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.