The folks at Dublin Zoo are well known for asking the public for their thoughts on names for new arrivals and with new penguin chicks just recently on the scene, the opportunity is open once again (we hope!)
Dublin Zoo is celebrating the hatching of two Humboldt penguin chicks; the first new chicks since 2013. The first chick was born on March 29th to Monica (7) and Joey (8). The second chick was born on April 3rd to parents Magdalena (18) and Patrick (16).
Humboldt penguins are unfortunately classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List with an estimated 32,000 left in the wild off the coast of Chile and Peru.
Magdalena and Patrick first laid an egg together way back in 2007 and are the parents of new mammy, Monica. Their other offspring include Chandler and Phoebe – both still residing in Dublin Zoo.
While they haven’t been named yet, Dublin Zoo often opens up competitions for the public to come up for the new arrivals’ names. Would you add more names to the Friends entourage or go down a different route?
‘They are important births for the species,’ Ciaran McMahon, team leader at Dublin Zoo said. Some of the parent names might seem strangely familiar to fans of a certain show, but in the last number of years all new arrivals at Dublin Zoo have been given names from the country they are native to.’
‘While the Zoo is currently closed to the public, this goes to show that life goes on! The penguin habitat is one of the most popular at the Zoo, and we look forward to welcoming people back as soon as we can,” he concluded.
The two new-borns are the newest members of the 16 strong colony in Dublin Zoo’s penguin habitat and if you’re lucky enough you may even be able to catch a glimpse of the penguin chicks the zoo’s live webcams, here.
(Lead image via the Dublin Zoo Instagram page (see embed))