News and Stories

With five different species of penguins calling habitats like African Penguin Point and Roo Valley home, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden has no shortage of adorable bills and flippers whose sights can be enjoyed year-round by visitors and staff alike! In fact, our African penguin colony recently welcomed two newborn chicks that are receiving care from birdkeepers behind the scenes before they can join the rest of the waddle in the spring!

African Penguin chicks require a great deal of care and attention when they are this young, even being hand-fed a nutritious concoction dubbed a “fish milkshake” by the Zoo’s birdkeepers! These shakes don’t really have any milk at all, but rather a mixture of fish, krill, vitamins, and supplements that will nourish the chicks as they grow! In a few months, these small but mighty chicks will transform into the characteristically vocal African penguins loved dearly by the Cincinnati Zoo community.

These chicks will have a great home in African Penguin Point, but African penguin populations in the wild are critically endangered and face major environmental challenges. Cincinnati Zoo’s global conservation partner, the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), is dedicated to advocacy for these distinctive seabirds in their natural habitats in South Africa.

Since the beginning of the 1900’s, the African penguin species has experienced a 97% decline, with less than 10,000 breeding pairs currently left in the wild. Climate change has created drastic food scarcity and mass starvation for African penguins, and many are too hungry to breed.

SANCCOB recently influenced the adoption of “no-take” fishing zones in crucial areas of African penguin breeding colonies, which prevents overfishing and leaves sardines and anchovies for the penguins!

There is hope for the survival of African penguins, through human collaboration, the continuation of public advocacy, and the reformation of environmental policy. The African penguin chicks at the Cincinnati Zoo spark hope for the future and serve as a reminder for Zoo visitors and followers of the importance of the African penguin’s survival.

You can support African penguin conservation via a donation or by participating in the Behind-the-Scenes African penguin experience.