Five Sisters Zoo welcomes eight Humboldt penguins just in time for the school holidays!
Humboldt penguins are one of 18 penguin species in the world and are listed as vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN. They live on the rocky coastal shores of Peru and Chile in the wild and face a number of threats such as climate change, over-fishing of their natural food sources, and rising ocean temperatures. This means that individuals now face dwindling resources, such as food, in their natural habitat.
Adam Welsh, Head of Education at Five Sisters Zoo, said:
“We are thrilled to be welcoming these incredible animals to our zoo. They’ll be excellent ambassadors for their species and will play a huge role in our much-loved engagement and education programmes.
“Native to rocky habitats between the Atacama Desert of South America and the Pacific Ocean, these fascinating penguins surprisingly don’t come from the land of snow and ice as many might think. We all have high hopes for breeding here at Five Sisters and we would be delighted if these new zoo residents could contribute to a healthy and stable zoo population in the future. We can’t wait to introduce these wonderful animals to everyone in the weeks and months to follow.”
