Same-sex penguin couple raise rare chick at Chester Zoo

Named after constellations and celestial wonders, the rare new arrivals are highly threatened Humboldt penguins – one of the most at risk out of the world’s 17 species of penguin.

The chicks began hatching from their eggs between April 16 and 28 and have spent their first few weeks of life tucked away in their nest burrows.

With penguins, both mum and dad share feeding and parenting duties. Keepers support the parents by providing plenty of extra fish, which the adult penguins swallow, blend into a protein-rich soup and then regurgitate to feed the chicks.

Each new arrival is also weighed and has their airways checked regularly to help monitor their development - often tripling or even quadrupling in size in just a few weeks.

In a heart-warming development, one of the chicks is being raised by a same-sex penguin couple, Scampi and Flounder. The devoted duo stepped in to help raise one of two eggs laid by another penguin pair, Wotsit and Peach.

The zoo’s bird experts carefully shared the eggs between the two nests to help give both chicks the best possible start and help improve chances of successful fledging.

Now, keepers say the chicks are just ‘days away’ from taking the plunge into their very first swimming lessons at the zoo’s Penguin Island habitat - a special milestone where they’ll be seen taking to the water alongside their parents.

As part of a long-standing zoo tradition, conservationists pick a different naming theme for the chicks each year. Previous topics have included chocolate bars, brands of crisps and even NHS heroes during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This year’s cohort have been named after stars and celestial wonders, with keepers dubbing eight of the chicks Ursa, Alcyone, Quasar, Orion, Dorado, Cassiopeia, Altair and Xena. The final two chicks are yet to be named, with the public being asked to help choose their names via a special vote across the zoo’s social media channels.

Zoe Sweetman, Team Manager of Penguins at Chester Zoo, said: “Ten chicks hatching in one season marks a bumper year for the penguins here. It’s fantastic news for the species and a brilliant success for the international conservation breeding programme.

“The fluffy new arrivals are all being looked after brilliantly by their parents, having nearly quadrupled in size since they first emerged!

“They’re now days away from a really exciting milestone - their very first swimming lessons, which is always a thrill to witness as they dive into the pool for the very first time.”

Humboldt penguins are listed as vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Found on the rocky coastal shores of Peru and Chile, they face a number of threats in the wild, including climate change, overfishing and rising ocean temperatures.