Adorján, this year’s first penguin chick in the Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden, has hatched from the egg

In our zoo’s enclosure next to Kisszikla, our Pope’s-eyed penguins multiply every year. You must have remembered that we asked for your help in naming the Totyka that hatched last year. This year’s first chick broke the eggshell at the beginning of January.

Externally, even as adults, the males and the eggs look incredibly similar to each other, and it is almost impossible to determine the sex of the chicks by looking at them, so we will only be able to say for sure after a thorough examination, but based on the size of the head, we believe it is a boy and call it Adorján. If it turns out that we were wrong, then of course she will get a nice girl’s name.

His down feathers are still grey, which keep him warm, but they are not waterproof, so he cannot bathe for the time being. Its plumage will change to its characteristic black and white color in a few months.

Unfortunately, we lost his mother a few days after he was born, and although in the case of penguins, the father sometimes fully performs the parental duties, his mother did not take care of him. In such cases, the little one has to be removed from the colony, because without its parents, the others can hurt it, so now our caretakers are feeding it. As soon as he is strong enough, he can go back to the team, where our visitors can meet him. It is a good sign that he is growing nicely, according to the latest weighing, he weighs almost two kilograms, which is three times his birth weight.

It is interesting that Adorján’s new best friend is a plush penguin, who plays an important role in the bird’s development. Its scientific background is linked to the name of Harry Frederick Harlow. In the “furry mother” experiment, he investigated how to solve the anxiety of young animals who have been separated from their families. According to the results, the strongest connecting force in the parent-child relationship is not feeding, but physical contact. For healthy development, it is therefore essential that in the first weeks and months they have someone and something to snuggle up to, which in our case we solved with a toy figure.