An adorable penguin chick has become the very first born of the penguin breeding season at Edinburgh Zoo.
Keepers at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) were delighted after the adorable and tiny endangered Northern rockhopper penguin chick was born to parents Pinny and Bruce on April 26 .
An excited Michael Livingstone, senior keeper at Edinburgh Zoo, said: “Northern rockhopper penguins are endangered due to climate change, changes in marine ecosystems and overfishing, so it is really exciting to welcome a new chick.
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"The first 30 days are critical for their development, so we will be keeping a close eye on the youngster at this sensitive time.
"Last year we welcomed two Northern rockhopper chicks, Sandy and Frankie, who have settled into the colony well.
"Every visit to Edinburgh Zoo helps care for all our amazing animals, like our penguins, and helps protect threatened species at home in Scotland and around the world.”
Should you want to keep an eye on the progress of the little chicks and the others like it set to be born at the zoo, you can follow the breeding activity on the charity’s free live penguin webcams – which can be viewed on the website.
The zoo is currently home to over 100 penguins from three species; king, Northern rockhopper and Gentoo.
As well as being part of the European breeding programme for Northern rockhopper penguins, RZSS has worked to help safeguard the species in the wild for many years, partnering on the species conservation action plan and carrying out genetic analysis in the zoo’s RZSS WildGenes lab to understand the connectivity between the breeding populations on remote islands in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
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