Sydney Aquarium Welcomes 12 New Penguins for Interstate 'Match-Making Service'

Storyful

SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium announced on June 9 that 12 new penguins were welcomed to their colony as part of an interstate “match-making service.”

The new residents were transported from SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium to take part in the breeding program.

The four king penguins and eight gentoos were selected for being “genetically viable, the right age and size for breeding”.

Penguin supervision worker Laetitia Hannan said it was “a really great introduction,” and that they’re hoping to “see a few romantic partnerships blossom and our breeding program thrive.” Credit: SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium via Storyful

Video Transcript

- Hi. My name is Tish. I'm the penguin supervisor here at Sea Life Sydney Aquarium. And today, I have some very exciting news. We are introducing some brand new penguins to our sub-antarctic penguin colony. So today, we have received eight gentoo penguins and four king penguins. And these guys have just been integrated into our colony of seven Antarctic penguins.

It was a really great introduction. It looks like all of our penguins are keen to make some new friends today. We're very excited because both of these groups of birds are going to be part of our breeding programs here in Australia. So these penguins have been carefully selected to be part of our breeding program here at Sea Life Sydney Aquarium.

There are four institutions across Australia and New Zealand that are part of this program. And every time we do a penguin transfer, we make sure that the birds are selected to make sure they're genetically viable for their new homes. So each one of them has successfully navigated the waters and managed to find the exit as well, which is obviously very important.

Our king penguins are yet to take their first swim. But this is very normal for them. Normally takes them a few more days to settle down. They're very interested in building new bonds with the other king penguins in here. So we're looking forward to seeing what the next few days bring for them.