Miracle Birth At SeaWorld And You Can Name Her
SeaWorld San Diego welcomed its newest member to its emperor penguin family on September 12th according to WESH-TV. This is the first time in 13 years that an endangered emperor penguin has hatched in the Western Hemisphere. This is a miracle birth at Seaworld.
The hatchling had trouble throughout her hatching experience. On September 7th the staff at Seaworld detected noise and movement from her egg, but she still hadn’t broken through.
The penguin struggled to break free from the egg and was only able to break through the inner membrane. The team poked a hole in the egg to help her. However, after five days it was clear that she couldn’t break through on her own and they decided to break her out completely.
After this, the team found out she had a beak malformation that was causing trouble while she was hatching.
Emperor penguin females only lay one egg a year. This makes it hard to increase the emperor penguin population.
“For the first time since 2010, an emperor penguin chick has hatched here at SeaWorld San Diego! Emperor penguins are currently listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act due to the loss of Antarctic sea ice and rising sea levels caused by climate change, and as the only zoo in the Western Hemisphere where emperor penguins can be found,” Seaworld San Diego said in an Instagram post to announce the arrival of the new chick, “we are excited to share and celebrate this rare and precious emperor penguin chick!”
In this post, they also said that the currently unnamed hatchling is enjoying a diet of fish and “fish milkshakes.” They also say she is gaining weight at a healthy rate.
If you want to help name the new chick you can find the link to SeaWorlds Instagram post HERE.
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