Vulnerable penguin chick born at NE zoo loves exploring. Meet the ‘inquisitive’ baby
With brown fur and almond-shaped eyes, a baby penguin emerged from the comfort of its shell that had been home for the past six weeks.
Its Dec. 15 birth at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo in Nebraska — which was announced Jan. 15 — marked the second Humboldt penguin birth of the year for parents Sharkbait and John Henry, the zoo said in a news release.
The chick’s sex is still unknown, but the zoo has been able to mark significant growth. At birth, the baby penguin weighed just 72 grams, or 0.15 pounds. As of Jan. 13, it weighed over 2.5 pounds, or 1,160 grams.
Beyond physical growth, staff noticed the penguin grow into its personality, according to the news release. The baby, though carefully watched by its parents, has been looking to branch out, the zoo said.
“The animal team has described this chick as very inquisitive and trying to explore away from mom and dad early!” officials said in a Facebook post.
Despite the 1-month-old’s urge to explore, the parent penguins have kept guard of the chick and fed it by “regurgitating partially digested food into the chick’s mouth,” the zoo said.
Humboldt penguins are considered a vulnerable species, the zoo said, and face extinction in the wild. The zoo said it is part of a conservation effort to breed genetically diverse penguins.
The zoo said it is waiting for blood test results to determine the penguin’s sex as the parents raise the chick behind the scenes.
This story was originally published January 15, 2025 at 4:55 PM with the headline "Vulnerable penguin chick born at NE zoo loves exploring. Meet the ‘inquisitive’ baby."
