Weymouth SEA LIFE Adventure Park is delighted to announce the safe arrival of a baby Humboldt Penguin at the park! The special little ‘Easter egg’ hatched just two weeks ago to parents, Preciosa and Sequoia.
Whilst carefully monitoring the baby’s health and development, it began to show signs of not feeding and so the difficult decision was taken to intervene. The chick is now being carefully hand-reared by the expert Animal Care Team behind the scenes at the park in Weymouth.
“We are very proud of parents Preciosa and Sequoia for safely hatching their baby chick,” said Kico Iraola, Curator of the aquarium. “Unfortunately, we had had to step in and take over its care to give it the best chance of survival. We are very pleased that the chick is now feeding well and putting on weight, so we will do our best to ensure it continues to grow strong enough to re-join the rest of the colony here at the park.”
The SEA LIFE expert Aquarists are currently looking after the growing Humboldt chick in a safe quarantine area, which is not on public view.
“Humboldt Penguins are not usually ready to leave the safety of the nest until they’re almost fully-grown and have their waterproof feathers,” added Kico. “So it will be a little while until our guests at the park will be able to see the chick out in its enclosure.”
Weymouth SEA LIFE is also exclusively home to the only colony of Fairy Penguins in Europe. The team hope that the smallest penguins in the world follow the lead of their Humboldt friends and start to breed soon too.
“The Fairy Penguins arrived last year, when their sanctuary in Australia had to close,” explained Kico. “They have since settled in very well and recently began to nest in pairs, which is a great sign that they will also start breeding too soon.”
A very egg-citing time for all at the park!
For more information on Weymouth SEA LIFE, including their new Season Pass offer to ‘Pay Once Visit All Year’, please go to http://sealifeweymouth.com