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 Sometimes animals are abandoned
by their parents. If this happens, most of them do
not survive. However, a lucky macaroni penguin survived
when it was abandoned by its parents before it had even hatched. The chick was hatched at a zoo
called Living Coasts in Devon,
U.K. last week. It was abandoned by its parents because one of them
became ill.
Usually, two penguins - the
mother and father - take turns to look after an egg until it hatches. Zoo keepers at the zoo decided
to hatch the egg and rear it by hand. “We decided to hand rear the
chick because there are not many macaroni penguins in the U.K.,” said
Elaine Hayes, the zoo’s director.
 In order to rear the chick,
keepers are wearing a home-made penguin glove puppet when they feed it. The puppet is made from a black
rubber glove. It is decorated
with red eyes and yellow plumes to make it look like an adult macaroni penguin. So,
do you think it really works? “We wear the glove
during its feeds to stop the poor little chick from becoming used
to humans. Fortunately, the abandoned
little chick thinks the rubber glove is its mommy!” said one of the
zoo keepers. The chick is fed every 3 hours using a syringe.
It usually eats a blended mixture of herring, krill, vitamins, and water.
In order to help the chick know that it is a macaroni penguin, the
zoo keepers also play it a recording of the sounds of a macaroni penguin
group. Stay healthy, little chick,
and remember that you are a macaroni penguin, not a human! |
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