“The bird department is very proud of our expanding penguin colony,” said Martin Vince, curator of birds at Riverbanks. “To successfully manage a large population of penguins requires an extensive amount of time and effort. The staff does an excellent job, and the recent rockhopper birth is a great reflection of that hard work.”

The male chick, born to parents Calista and Skimmer, is the first penguin to be born at Riverbanks in five years. The chick, which hatched on exhibit, will remain with his parents until Saturday. Then, animal care staff will take the chick and hand-rear him until he becomes independent, at which point he will return to the exhibit. This is expected to be when the bird is about 3 months old.

This three-week-old penguin now boosts Riverbanks’ rockhopper population to 14. The new chick is a half-sister to Zella, one of the two other rockhopper penguins born at Riverbanks. Gilbert, the third rockhopper born at Riverbanks, is one of the stars of the Zoo’s behind-the-scenes Adventure Tours.

The two larger (and much older) additions are Niles and Fredrico, two male king penguins. The boys, both 21-years-old came to Riverbanks from the Milwaukee County Zoo. Niles and Fredrico join Riverbanks’ two king penguins, Scout and Atticus.

“If you visit Riverbanks in the next few weeks, you will notice that Fredrico looks a little larger than the other king penguins and rather rough around the edges,” said Vince. This is completely normal, as Fredrico is currently in the middle of a complete molt, or shedding of feathers, to grow new ones.

During a molt, a penguin’s feathers are not waterproof, so they cannot swim and hunt for fish. In the wild, before a penguin molts, it will consume larger quantities of food to increase its body weight. This way it can store enough energy to complete its molt without having to enter the chilly waters to forage for food.

Rockhoppers are the third smallest species of penguin and are approximately three to six pounds fully grown. King penguins are the second largest species of penguin and are often confused with the largest species, the emperor penguin. King penguins grow to be approximately three-and-a-half feet tall and weigh approximately 40 pounds. Both species of penguins are sub-Antarctic penguins. Large colonies of rockhoppers can be found on the Falkland Islands, and large colonies of king penguins can be found on South Georgia Island.