On Aug 15, a 75-gm-chick took birth at VJB zoo to become the 1st penguin born in captivity, in India
Emotions ran high as one of the most anticipated moments of the year, for caretakers of the seven Humboldt penguin came true on August 15. At around 8pm, the-75-gramme chick, pecked its way out from the egg, becoming the first penguin to be born in captivity, in India.
However tourists visiting Veermata Jijabai Bhosale (VJB) Zoo at Byculla, will have to wait for around three months to catch a glimpse of the penguin chick, whose gender is yet to be determined and will be found through DNA analysis after its hair or fecal material will be sent for sampling.
Throughout Wednesday the Veterinarians dedicated to the penguins were glued to the screen watching the developments live from the CCTV camera fitted in its nest. "Flipper refused to leave the egg and even Molt was not leaving Flipper and both looked very anxious and this gave us signal that the egg could hatch. The hatching activity seemed to have begun around 6pm and finally at 8.02pm we saw the chick emerging out from the egg and immediately Flipper took to caring it," said Dr Madhumita Kale, Head Veterinarian and incharge of the penguin enclosure who along with her team including Dr Neha Shah an Dr Govind Mangnale stayed throughout the Wednesday night at the zoo.
She informed that once the chick was born they decided to wait and let the parents take care of it. "We kept a watch throughout the night to see how the parents were reacting and it was a huge relief to watch that both were taking care and feeding it by regurgirating food. It was only on Thursday morning at around 8.30am we first handled the chick to check its weight and other parameters," said Kale adding that the growth of the chick and all its activity will be monitored very closely
Dr Sanjay Tripathi, Director VJB Zoo said that the nest area of Molt and Flipper who are nursing the chick has been barricaded and a small space has been left for them to come out take a dip and feed.
"There are a lot of factors that determine the survival of the chick and hence we are taking all the necessary precautions and following all the protocols laid down by the Association of Zoo's and Aquarium and there will be round the clock monitoring done. We will also ensure that the hygine of nest is maintained," he said adding that the zoo had even procured incubators as well as a small Intensive Care Unit (ICU) incase the parents abandoned the egg or the chick.
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