Edinburgh Zoo shares adorable video of first endangered rockhopper penguin chick born this season

Edinburgh Zoo has announced the arrival of a tiny endangered penguin chick. Keepers at the wildlife conservation charity were delighted to welcome the first Northern rockhopper chick of the penguin breeding season, born to parents Bruce and Pinny.

Michael Livingstone, senior keeper at Edinburgh Zoo, said: “Northern rockhopper penguins are endangered due to climate change, changes in marine ecosystems and overfishing, so it is really exciting to welcome a new chick. The first 30 days are critical for their development, so we will be keeping a close eye on the youngster at this sensitive time. Last year we welcomed two Northern rockhopper chicks, Sandy and Frankie, who have settled into the colony well. Every visit to Edinburgh Zoo helps care for all our amazing animals, like our penguins, and helps protect threatened species at home in Scotland and around the world.”

As well as being part of the European breeding programme for Northern rockhopper penguins, The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) has worked to help safeguard the species in the wild for years, partnering on the species conservation action plan and carrying out genetic analysis in the zoo’s RZSS WildGenes lab to understand relationships between breeding populations on remote islands in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

The first penguin chick of the season has been born at Edinburgh Zoo

The public can keep an eye on all of the breeding activity at Edinburgh Zoo on the charity’s free live webcams at edinburghzoo.org.uk/penguincam

Native to the southern Atlantic and Indian oceans, northern rockhopper penguins were given a spotlight by the character Lovelace, voiced by Robin Williams in Happy Feet. Their population has declined by 90 per cent since the 1950s.

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