Baby Gentoo Penguins Born: Big Pic
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Aug. 3, 2011 —Time to learn to waddle! These chicks are two of 59 that have hatched at the Edinburgh Zoo since May 2011. The zoo is home to more than 120 adult gentoo penguins, one of the largest colonies of the species in the world.
The gentoo penguin breeding season begins in March. The penguins usually stay with the same partner and return to the same nest they used in previous years.
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At the Edinburgh Zoo, keepers place nest rings while the penguins wait. Once their nest rings are in the same place as before, the birds gather pebbles as nesting material.
Humans like to keep up with the Jones' and this species likes to take from the penguin Jones'…literally. The gentoo often steal their neighbors' pebbles, causing disputes.
After laying their eggs in April and a 35-day incubation period, the chicks hatch. Gentoo chicks weigh up to a quarter of a pound when first born. But within three months their weight increases up to 11 pounds.
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Gentoo chicks are looked after by both parents. When hungry, they peck the beaks of their mother or father. Both parents feed the chick by regurgitating partially digested food. Parents only feed their own chicks.
Gentoo penguins eat krill (a small shrimp-like crustacean), cod, squid and lantern fish, deepwater fish that have the ability to produce light. These birds tend to live by the water, which makes finding what they crave that much easier.
By Yasmine Gazelle Temraz, Photo: Getty Images
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