PPPPPerfect New Arrivals

Keepers at Drusillas Park are currently celebrating the arrival of two rare Humboldt penguin chicks at the award-winning zoo in East Sussex.

The two cheeky chicks hatched at the end of last year and are making egg-cellent progress. They are currently being looked after by parents, Augustus and Slate, in the nest box but are expected to waddle out onto Penguin Beach over the next month or so.

The timely arrival coincides with Penguin Awareness Day, which took place on 20 January providing the opportunity to learn more about these fantastic creatures and celebrate penguins around the world.

Humboldt penguins mate for life and lay one or two eggs at a time. The parents take it in turns to incubate the eggs over approximately 39 days.

In the wild, Humboldt penguins are found off the west coast of South America, in Peru and northern Chile. They are able to live in this region due to the chilling effect of the icy Humboldt Current, which they take their name from.

Unfortunately, they are now regarded as vulnerable in the wild due to overfishing, pollution, habitat destruction and being caught in fishing nets.  The group at Drusillas Park are part of the European breeding programme created to secure the survival of the species in the future.