Banham Zoo announces black-footed penguin chicks, Pudding and Humbug

Banham Zoo has announced the hatching of two critically endangered black-footed penguin chicks.

Named by keepers, Pudding hatched on December 20 and Humbug came of its shell on Christmas Day to the colony of 17 penguins at the zoo.

Both penguin chicks are thriving under their parents Bob and Zulika’s care and keepers are closely monitoring their progress.

Deborah Harris, animal manager at Banham Zoo, said: “It is wonderful to have two penguin chicks here at the zoo. The African penguin is critically endangered in the wild which makes this even more special as we try to help ensure the survival of their wild counterpart with the captive population.”

The black-footed penguin, also known as the African penguin, has recently been uplisted from endangered to critically endangered on the IUCN list.

With a 97 per cent population decrease, only 10,000 breeding pairs of African penguins are believed to remain in the wild.

The main causes affecting the population numbers include overfishing of food sources such as sardines and anchovies, climate change and human destruction of nests and habitats.

The Penguin walkthrough at Banham Zoo is currently closed due to welfare protocol, but the penguins can be viewed from windows surrounding the habitat and a live camera feed is to be put in place inside the habitat for the February half-term.

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