Penguin Chicks Hatching- and another 18 to go!

You may remember our blog some weeks ago about our penguin eggs being selected for a new penguin exhibit being built at Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire. There have been some changes in the dynamics of what was originally discussed and Longleat decided it was safer for the eggs to stay on our site and be hatched here and then transferred to Longleat for hand rearing.

So..... it takes around 39 - 42 days for a penguin egg to hatch and today was 'kick off'. We know that many of the eggs are fertile because they roll around in the incubator and every so often you hear tiny squeaks!

Last night one egg was making lots of noise and we noticed the shell cracking with a little beak pecking its way out - this is called 'pipping'. You can see from these amazing images taken by Charlotte Goswell one of our Keepers how incredible this process is. We will keep you posted......