Penguin success at Edinburgh

Edinburgh Zoo is now home to 19 gentoo penguin chicks and one northern rockhopper chick as a successful breeding season comes to a close.

The season began in early March at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s site, with keepers placing nest rings and pebbles into the animals’ enclosure. The male penguins then sought out the best looking and smoothest pebbles to “propose” to their potential mates.

The first gentoo chicks hatched on May 7 and the arrival of a northern rockhopper chick on April 25 was just in time for World Penguin Day.

Due to the decline in their population, gentoo penguins are listed as near threatened on the IUCN Red List. The once tiny chicks are growing into adorably fluffy youngsters and the gentoos have joined the northern rockhopper chick in the zoo’s crèche.