Watch: A New Penguin Has Arrived in Pittsburgh

Check out some high-resolution penguin snuggling.

photos courtesy national aviary
 

The newest Pittsburgh penguin is here!

No, you didn’t miss any big NHL draft news. We mean the kind of penguin with feathers and webbed feet, not the kind wearing ice skates and sporting a beard during the playoffs.

One of the African penguin eggs at the National Aviary hatched over the weekend. Adult penguins Bette and Sidney are the proud parents, and they’re keeping their new baby warm while they wait for a second egg to hatch within the next few days. This is Bette and Sidney’s fourth set of chicks together.

Thanks to the new infrared web camera installed at near the nesting cave, you can watch while Bette and Sidney nuzzle their new baby. The baby chick is about the size of a golf ball, so look closely to get a glimpse of it.
 

Over the next three weeks the penguin mom and dad will take turns tending the nest and feeding the chick(s) a diet of partially digested fish. After that, the chicks will move inside to be  cared for by National Aviary staff until they are old enough to return to their colony at Penguin Point.

Penguin Point is home to 20 African penguins, which are considered a critically endangered species. There are fewer than 25,000 African penguins left in the wild. The Pittsburgh Aviary’s penguins are part of a breeding program to help that number grow.