Baby Penguin Marks 1000th To Hatch At Maryland Zoo

BALTIMORE, MD — The Maryland Zoo reached a milestone recently, with the hatching of its 1,000th African penguin. Home to the largest colony of African penguins in North America, the zoo in Baltimore has been raising the birds for 50 years.

While adult African penguins have distinctive white stripes sweeping across their foreheads, babies are all gray.

"The chick, whose gender will not be known for several weeks, will stay behind-the-scenes in the Penguin Conservation Center for a few months until its juvenile feathers have grown in and it passes swimming lessons," Jen Kottyan of the Maryland Zoo said in a statement.

"Yes, we do have to teach them to swim, but they get used to the water quickly!" Kottyan added.

Each addition to the population is remarkable; African penguins are an endangered species, and there are only an estimated 52,000 worldwide.

In their native habitat of South Africa and Namibia, humans have interfered with their ability to survive. Oil spills, egg poaching and commercial fishing operations are some of the challenges African penguins face.

"African penguins are more suited to a temperate climate," Kottyan said, "and so the weather will play a factor in this particular chick’s public debut."

Breeding season runs from mid September through the end of February, so there could be more chicks on the way.

While the average life span is 10 to 12 years, the oldest African penguin in North America is 39-year-old Opal. Born at the Maryland Zoo in June 1977, Opal was among those offering congratulations to the Maryland Zoo in a video compilation released Friday. She currently lives at the Omaha zoo in Nebraska. Others celebrating the penguin's birth on the video included wildlife advocate Jack Hanna and African penguins in South Africa.

It takes approximately 40 days for African penguin eggs to hatch. Both parents take turns sitting on the eggs during incubation, and each helps with feeding the offspring a diet of regurgitated fish once they are born.

The birds are monogamous, staying with the same partner for life once they have reached breeding age after about 4 years.

Because they communicate with donkey-like braying noises, African penguins have been nicknamed "jackass penguins."

While this week's baby marks the 1,000th African penguin to hatch at the Maryland Zoo, there are currently 94 penguins in the zoo's Penguin Coast exhibit.

After being born in Baltimore, many penguins have moved to other zoos and aquariums, spanning 35 states and six countries: Hungary, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands and South Africa.

"I am sure the people who started this penguin colony in 1967 had no idea where it would take the zoo over time," Maryland Zoo President Don Hutchinson said this week. "This is truly a momentous achievement."

The head of the Maryland Zoo said that its colony of penguins has grown due to careful management over time.

Those overseeing the penguins "had the foresight to manage the penguin colony strategically, applying new scientific techniques as they emerged, while creating one of the most historically memorable zoo exhibits..." Hutchinson said in a statement.

The penguin research does not just stay at the Maryland Zoo. Other zoos around the world have used best practices that have been developed at the zoo in Baltimore.

In addition, experts from the Maryland Zoo have traveled to South Africa to assist with conservation of African penguins in the wild, participating in tagging and research efforts and caring for abandoned chicks.

Photos courtesy of the Maryland Zoo.