Tiny Fairy Penguin Hatches at the Bronx Zoo

Michele Debczak
The Bronx Zoo
The Bronx Zoo / The Bronx Zoo
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The Bronx Zoo is now home to a brand new member of the smallest penguin species on Earth. On May 10th, the zoo’s recently added colony of fairy penguins (also known as little or blue penguins) successfully hatched an egg. The chick makes history as the first of its kind bred at the Bronx Zoo since it opened 120 years ago.

The Bronx Zoo

Fairy penguins are best know for their petite stature. The aquatic birds weigh in at 2 to 3 pounds and stand 13 inches tall. When first hatched, chicks weigh a mere 25 grams – barely more than a AA battery.

It takes baby fairy penguins about 50 days to lose their downy coat, so the adolescent bird now on display at the Bronx Zoo no longer resembles the chick at the beginning of the video below. But judging by the looks of the penguin’s adult peers, the species gets no less adorable with age.

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