Keepers at Birdland Park & Gardens in Bourton-on-the-Water are celebrating the birth of a king penguin chick.
The tiny chick finally hatched out of its palm-sized egg after an anxious two-month incubation, with keepers on hand to assist the bird to break out of the egg if necessary.
King penguins only produce one egg, and often will not breed for several years, so staff took no chances and placed it in an incubator to hatch. If all goes well it should hatch out within two months.
For parents Lily and Frank this is their second chick after Junior, who was born in 2006 and also hand-reared by Head Keeper Alistair Keen.
Alistair said: “We are thrilled to have the first king penguin egg hatch successfully. The chick is doing well and we’re hoping more are on the way.
“We have six pairs in total and all have the potential to produce fertile eggs.”
There are 17 species of penguin in the world and the king penguin is the second largest, weighing up to 18kg. The largest is the emperor penguin, which can weigh 45kg and the smallest is the appropriately-named little penguin which weighs two kilogrammes.
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For more about Birdland, visit: www.birdland.co.uk
