It’s A Boy AND A Girl! Meet SD Zoo's New Penguin Chicks

SAN DIEGO, CA – The arrival of two new African penguin chicks has San Diego Zoo’s staff atwitter as these are the first chicks hatched at the zoo from eggs laid by the colony’s resident penguin couples. The births of Doug and Barbara mark an important milestone for the zoo’s breeding colony — and adds two more individuals to this endangered species’ worldwide population, officials said.

Perfect timing for their debut as, yes, Mother's Day is around the corner, and the Duchess and Duke of Sussex, Harry and Meghan, allowed a media glimpse of newborn Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. But in San Diego, we toast to the arrival of this fluffy pair.

The penguin chicks were hatched in March from eggs laid by adult pairs, Norinne and Simon and Danny and Malloy, and are at the Dan and Vi McKinney Penguin Habitat, located inside Conrad Prebys’ Africa Rocks at the San Diego Zoo. The two were named Doug and Barbara, in honor of Douglas G. Myers, president/CEO of San Diego Zoo Global and his wife, Barbara Myers.

"Shortly after hatching, animal care staff began working diligently with the chicks, getting them used to human interaction," zoo officials said. "Staff said this early hands-on training is vital to providing effective husbandry care to the birds, and the youngsters will be reintroduced into the colony within the next few weeks."

“Doug and Barbara are sweet, amazing birds, and we want them to feel safe,” said Debbie Denton, keeper at the San Diego Zoo. “We work with them while they’re young because it helps them be comfortable around us when we feed them, do health checks, or change their name bands.”

The African penguin is listed as Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. Once one of southern Africa’s most abundant seabirds, the species has suffered a massive population decline—from an estimated 1 million breeding pairs to only 23,000 breeding pairs today, a population decrease of more than 60 percent in the past 28 years, staff said.

Doug and Barbara’s story will be featured on the San Diego Zoo’s first-ever “reality television”-style web series, called “Penguin Beach.” The new episodic show—scheduled to premiere this summer on Facebook, YouTube and the San Diego Zoo Kids channel—will focus on the dramatic, hilarious and often unexpected social dynamics of the San Diego Zoo’s colony of penguins.

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