Comments on: African penguin Reproduction: Egg Incubation

By: Penguins

Penguins — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 21:39:56 +0000

Hello Shaunna, Thank you for watching our penguins, I hope your class is learning from our programs. 1)The tank is 24,000 gallons of salt water 2)We have one couple currently incubating eggs, but these are not fertile 3) African penguins create a nest on the ground or dug into the ground (called burrows); they lay down on top of the eggs to protect the eggs and keep them warm. We have had a few inexperienced (very young) penguins that have made nests on the ground in our exhibit. But most of our older couples make nests in the covered, protected burrows that we provide.-Pamela Schaller

By: Shaunna

Shaunna — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:17:35 +0000

My class is studying penguins and we visit your site each day. We have a couple of questions:
1. Is there salt water or fresh water in the tank?
2. Are they incubating eggs currently?
3. We thought we saw a nest with eggs in the webcam in the rocks, but feel that wouldn’t be the case because they incubate them under their brood pouch. What are we seeing?

Thanks so much! We love being able to have the audio for the feedings!!

Shaunna

By: Penguins

Penguins — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 17:21:57 +0000

The balls are for the birds to chase around both on land and in the water. They are part of our enrichment plan for the penguins. Encouraging acitivity and brain stimulation.-Pamela Schaller

By: Kelly

Kelly — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 00:03:32 +0000

Hey Pam, yer doing a great job keep up the hard work!

Listen, what’s your ‘reasoning’ for the silver and orange/red ‘balls’ that are in the penguins’ area, thanks?