Detroit Zoo welcomes a new baby penguin in collaboration with the Cincinnati Zoo
When two zoos collaborate, something special happens.
These two Midwestern zoos have been super busy with regular operations of feeding animals, caring for them, and allowing guests into their locations. They also have been busy with the birth of a king-size penguin.
A king penguin hatched on Aug. 13 at the Detroit Zoo, but originally, the story began almost 300 miles away at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Penguin parents Larry, 27, and Stacy, 8, mated and Stacy laid the egg at the Cincinnati Zoo.
"One of the tried-and-true ways to check fertility of an egg with a thick shell — like a king penguin egg — is to do something called ‘floating,’ ” said Jennifer Gainer, the Cincinnati Zoo’s curator of birds, in a written response. “Simple enough, we briefly float the egg in warm water to look for ripples in the water. We were excited to confirm fertility when the little bundle of joy was bouncing around like crazy.”
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Species Survival Plan recommended that the Detroit Zoo be the home for the future chick. Both locations began creating a plan to incubate, transport, and transfer the king penguin chick egg to its new foster parents, a 21-year-old male and a 7-year-old female named Gertie.
From July to September, these king penguins blended and bonded during the mating season but didn't create an egg of their own. Since these fellow penguin parents lacked experience in parenting, the Detroit zookeepers gave them a practice egg to care for until the "real" egg came from the Cincinnati Zoo.
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“It was a perfect situation,” said Jessica Jozwiak, bird supervisor at the Detroit Zoological Society (DZS) in a written response. “We had a pair that was closely bonded but did not produce an egg this year, so we were able to give this egg to them. Everything has worked out wonderfully.”
Detroit Zoo experts said the king chick has not been named yet but is doing well and is being closely cared for by its foster parents.
“They are excellent, attentive parents,” Jozwiak said of the foster parents. “We don’t know the sex of the chick just yet, but we are all looking forward to watching it grow up. We are already picking out names we can give the chick once we know the sex.”
Both zoo organizations are happy their collaboration went well in the hatching of a healthy and well-cared-for king penguin chick.
“This was a very time-sensitive situation that has resulted in the best-case scenario,” Gainer said. “We couldn’t have made this happen without the professionalism and extensive knowledge of both the Detroit and Cincinnati bird teams.”
Representatives from the Detroit Zoo can say the same.
"We are so grateful for relationships like these with fellow zoos because they lead to excellent outcomes like these,” added Bonnie Van Dam, curator of birds for the Detroit Zoo, in a written response. “None of this would have been possible without the creative and hardworking people at both the Cincinnati Zoo and the Detroit Zoo.”
The Detroit Zoological Society operates the Detroit Zoo and the Belle Isle Nature Center, which recently reopened after $2.5 million in renovations.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Zoo gets new baby Penguin with help from Cincinnati Zoo
