Hatchling Happiness! Lowry Park Zoo Welcomes 2nd African Penguin Chick

Introducing African penguin chick No. 2 at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo – one week old today.

“Thumbelina” and “Flannigan,” the parents of the first chick (now 3 months old), added another to the colony on May 19, according to a news release by Zoo spokeswoman Rachel Nelson. African penguins usually remain with a single partner for years, and typically produce two eggs per breeding season.

It is anticipated the Zoo’s newest chick will nest with the parents for the first month, then be transitioned to zookeeper care to facilitate independence and learning to swim, before ultimately joining the colony on exhibit this summer, Nelson said. 

Once on exhibit, chicks are easy to spot with soft gray juvenile plumage, which will be replaced by the characteristic black and white feathers following the first molt. The first chick, a male hatched February 11, is now on exhibit daily at Penguin Beach, Nelson said.

African penguins, endemic to mainly offshore islands on South Africa’s coast, were reclassified in 2010 from 'vulnerable' to 'endangered' on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List. The Zoo’s penguins are members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) African Penguin Species Survival Plan (SSP) program. 

Learn about these animals and more on LowryParkZoo.com or find the Zoo on Facebook and Twitter.