HONOLULU — An endangered baby African penguin was hatched at the Honolulu Zoo on Nov. 15 to parents Barbara and Max.
The new chick was named Biscuit and is being cared for by its parents.
“We are very excited to have a healthy penguin chick as African penguins are an endangered species,” said Honolulu Zoo Director Linda Santos in a press release. “When it hatched, the staff described the chick to be the size of a biscuit and it has quickly grown to the size of a pineapple!”
Four female African penguins arrived at the zoo in July, including Barbara. Shortly after arriving, Barbara started a monogamous relationship with Max and laid an egg.
Barbara and Max took turns incubating the egg during the 40 day process.
The biological sex of the penguin is still to be determined.
“We hope to have more penguin chicks hatch at the Honolulu Zoo,” Santos said.
This is the first hatchling since the new African penguins ladies arrived. The three-penguin family along with eight other penguins can be seen in their habitat at the Honolulu Zoo’s African savanna.
African penguins have been listed as endangered since 2010 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and they are the only penguin species found in Africa.
In the early 20th century, there were millions of African Penguins, but now less than 42,000 remain, according to the San Diego Zoo. Population declines are largely due to habitat loss, overfishing, and coastal development.
African penguins live in large colonies on sandy beaches along the coast and on offshore islands in Southwestern Africa. They are fast swimmers and catch fish and squid in the cold ocean currents, returning to the shore to nest.
African penguins have black plumages on their back to camouflage from aerial predators and white feathers on their chest and belly to camouflage from aquatic predators.
