Several pairs of Humboldt penguins (Spheniscus humboldti) of the Primorsky Aquarium will soon become happy parents again: the chicks are to hatch by the end of December later this year.
The bird keepers say that they let the birds incubate their eggs instead of collecting them for artificial incubation and just observe the process and then monitor the health of the offspring. The eggs are hatched in incubators only in extreme situations. For example, the first chicks appeared at the Aquarium in November 2020, after a heavy freezing rain, which caused power outages on Russkii Island. The power supply of the Aquarium was provided by emergency generators for two days, and the eggs could only be incubated in an automatic hatcher.
As the keepers told us, Humboldt penguins incubate their eggs for 38 to 45 days depending on ambient temperature. And chicks need another two to three days to chip their way out of the eggs.
All our penguin pairs have been successfully breeding for several years as a result of having chosen a high-quality breeder to obtain birds from and maintaining the best conditions possible for their reproduction at the Primorsky Aquarium.
Humboldt penguins have lived at the Aquarium since 2018, with 24 chicks born during this period. The penguin population is 38 individuals now. Some of the birds are kept in the Polar World exhibit of the Main Building and some in the Science and Acclimation Building.