NEED TO KNOW
- On Monday, Dec. 8, the Maryland Zoo announced that eight critically endangered African penguins had hatched
- The birds were named after fruits and vegetables
- The first two names announced by the zoo are Kiwi and Cayenne
The Maryland Zoo has hatched eight African penguins this breeding season, keeping hope alive for the critically endangered population.
According to the Baltimore-based zoo’s website, the African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) population has declined by 90% since the turn of the 20th century, leaving the current wild population estimated at about 52,000 animals.
On Monday, Dec. 8, the Maryland Zoo announced that eight critically endangered African penguins had hatched and were named by the zoo’s penguin keepers.
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The theme for this year’s names is fruits and vegetables. The first two names unveiled by the zoo are Kiwi and Cayenne, while more names are expected to be revealed in the coming weeks.
Mimicking the spring-to-summer breeding season in their native South Africa and Namibia, the African penguins’ breeding season at the zoo begins in mid-September and lasts until the end of February.
The Maryland Zoo is home to the largest colony of African penguins in North America, with more than 1,000 hatched at the zoo since 1967, according to the zoo’s website.
While most of the hatched penguin chicks remain in Baltimore, the animals have also helped establish new colonies at zoos and aquariums in 35 states and Canada, the zoo’s announcement states.
However, Maryland Zoo bird curator Jen Kottyan said in a press statement that “the number of African penguins in the wild is dropping” despite being a protected species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Kottyan is also the program leader for the African Penguin Species Survival Plan (SSP), overseeing African penguin breeding programs at zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
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“If we can fix the issues these birds face in the wild, such as overfishing and habitat loss, one day penguins from our highly managed SSP could be sent to their native South Africa and Namibia to repopulate the wild colonies, which means every chick hatched here is important to this species’ global survival,” said Kottyan.
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