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A gentoo Penguin with a newborn chick.
Barcroft Media / Barcroft Media via Getty Images
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Barcroft Media / Barcroft Media via Getty Images
A gentoo Penguin with a newborn chick.
Barcroft Media / Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Sphen and Magic, a pair of male gentoo penguins at Sydney Sea Life Aquarium in Australia, are the proud new dads of a 91-gram chick, the aquarium has announced.
The tiny, as-yet unnamed penguin will be with its dads for the first 5 – 6 weeks of his life, the aquarium says. Sphen and Magic – nicknamed Sphengic – will feed the chick up to 10 times a day by regurgitation.
"Baby Sphengic has already stolen our hearts," Tish Hannan, Penguin Department Supervisor at the Aquarium, said in a statement on Friday, one week after the happy event.
in tweet, the aquarium says male and female gentoo penguin chicks do not have any physical differences, and can only be determined by DNA testing. The penguin's gender will be determined two months from now, the aquarium said, because drawing blood from a newborn can be dangerous for the chick.
To think it started with a pebble.
The couple was "constantly seen waddling around and going for swims together" on the horizon, the aquarium said.
Soon, the pair has entered the species' tell-tale sign of courtship: Sharing pebbles.
"A pebble to them is equivalent to a diamond," according to an article on the website of the National University of Singapore.
Gentoo penguins – present pebbles to each other. Once again are together, they make their nests out of pebbles, too.
Sphen and Magic gathered together at the aquarium.
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Building a nest of pebbles serves a specific purpose: The stones keep eggs warm.
During incubation, one member of the group will incubate the egg while the other is on the perimeters, "the aquarium says," warding off any potential pebble thieves or over-inquisitive neighbors.
The aquarium's caretakers started giving Sphen and Magic a "dummy egg to allow them to practice incubating and develop their skills."
Once it became clear they were "absolute naturals," the penguins had hatched two.
Typically, they only have enough resources to make a time.
"Fostering the biological couple's egg to Sphen and Magic is the best outcome for all couples and the future of their eggs," the aquarium said.
The newborn chick will serve as "an ambassador for its generation" at the aquarium, and "will help educate the public on the precious species and the plight that they face in the wild."
Sub-Antarctic penguins like a number of threats, including loss of habitat and pollution pollution, which is often passed from parent to chick via the species' feeding technique.
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