Mumbai: Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo at Byculla have announced the birth of three new Humboldt penguins, in the past few months. The newborn penguin chicks were named Coco, Stella and Jerry in a ceremony organised to celebrate the 161st anniversary of the zoo on Friday. However, the zoo authorities' plans to exchange the excess penguins with other zoos but have not yet received any response.
The Humboldt Penguin Family
The zoo authorities said that the penguin pair Molt (male) and Flipper (female) laid a single egg, and a female chick named 'Coco' was hatched on April 27 this year. Another pair, Popeye (male) and Olive (female), gave birth to a female chick 'Stella' on May 23, and Donald (male) and Daisy (female) gave birth to a male chick 'Jerry' on June 27, 2022. The penguin chicks born last year were named Flash, Bingo, and Alexa. With this, the total count of Humboldt penguins at the zoo now stands at 18.
The zoo authorities had sent a proposal to Kevadia Baug Zoo in Gujarat to get two pairs of lions in exchange for penguins in August. However, it has failed to get any response from the zoo. According to sources from the zoo, maintenance costs for the penguins are high, and other zoos might also not have the facilities required for them. The zoo brought three males and five female penguins from Coex Aquarium, Seoul, South Korea, in October 2016. Ever since they were brought, they have been kept in a quarantine facility where temperatures were maintained at 16-18 degrees Celsiusees Celsius.
