Eight African penguins recently hatched at the Maryland Zoo, a success that experts said could raise awareness of the critically endangered species and possibly help boost their population in the wild.
Keepers at the zoo in Baltimore on Monday announced the birth of the chicks. Officials said their experts began breeding their African penguins in mid-September and continued through the end of February to mimic the spring-to-summer breeding season for these birds in their native South Africa and Namibia.
The eight chicks were born in late October and early November, and are the offspring of four sets of parents, zoo experts said. Keepers chose to name the newborns after vegetables and fruits, and two of them have been dubbed Cayenne and Kiwi. Zoo officials said they would reveal the names of the other six chicks in coming weeks.
The wild population of African penguins, known by the scientific name Spheniscus demersus, has plummeted due to overfishing and habitat loss even though they’re a protected species, according to Maryland Zoo bird curator Jen Kottyan.
Margaret Rose-Innes, the zoo’s general curator, said in an interview that another reason the penguins’ population is dwindling in the wild is because they don’t have enough food. In South Africa, penguins typically eat anchovies and sardines, but those fish are becoming more scarce near the shore, forcing penguins to “go further and further to find fish,” she said. The lack of fish can cause adult penguins to abandon their chicks.
“They’re struggling to feed themselves, so don’t have enough food to feed their chicks,” Rose-Innes said.
Experts worry there’s a chance that the penguins could become extinct in the wild in the next 10 years.
A recently published study found that the bulk of the breeding penguins in two colonies off the coast of South Africa probably starved to death over an eight-year period due to a lack of food.
At the Maryland Zoo, experts said the offspring of the recently hatched chicks could possibly be introduced someday into the wild and help repopulate penguin colonies.
“Every chick hatched here is important to this species’ global survival,” Kottyan said in a news release.
The Maryland Zoo boasts the largest population of African penguins among facilities in North America. They are carefully bred under a plan for animals in captivity at zoos and aquariums.
Over the past 50 years, the zoo’s keepers have hatched more than 1,000 penguin chicks. Most have stayed at the zoo, while others have been sent to zoos and aquariums in 35 states and Canada to help start new colonies, experts from the Maryland Zoo said.
Rose-Innes said breeding the penguins in captivity helps experts learn more about the species, which is harder to do in the wild, and raises awareness about their plight.
“If people see the animals [at the Maryland Zoo], it helps them make a connection to their conservation story,” Rose-Innes said. These penguins, she said, are “at risk of going extinct if we don’t step in to help them.
“The number of African penguins is dropping every year … introducing animals from captivity to the wild may become more important in the future,” she said.
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