Flop the baby penguin
Amidst all the doom, gloom, and misery there are occasionally moments of pure joy. Flop is a Humboldt penguin (Spheniscus humboldti) and was hatched at Dudley Zoo last April, but her mother died, and her father virtually abandoned her.
Her keepers moved her into an isolation area so that they could hand rear her. Unfortunately, Flop developed a limp and soon, despite pain relief and medication to reduce inflammation, she could not stand at all. Blood tests showed that she had an infection and further medication was prescribed. Sadly, the little bird became withdrawn and lost interest in food.
Penguins are accustomed to ingesting large amount of food at a time, but when Flop was lying on her front, this was probably quite uncomfortable for her.
Staff were increasingly concerned that she would not survive, until someone suggested that a custom-made baby bouncer might help. It would keep her upright and allow her to eat, so that antibiotics could be delivered. Her keepers also devised a type of baby walker treadmill for her. They also gave her many more small feeds during the day, ending with a ten o’clock feed at night. It was important that she didn’t lose too much weight. Chicks raised by their parents feed only once a day.
In the mornings, Flop would be put into her baby bouncer for feeding. Her feet just touched the floor, the objective being to accustom her to being upright and encourage her to use her feet. She was left in the bouncer under supervision, while the other young birds being hand-reared were fed.
After much tweaking of the baby walker, Flop started to put on weight and was also allowed to have short, supervised swims. Her confidence grew and soon she was able to stand unaided and start walking.
An animal physiotherapist gave the keepers exercises to do with Flop to build up her strength and soon she was able to spend time with the other youngsters in the isolation area. She will eventually rejoin the main colony. It is likely that she will always be smaller and lighter than her peers, but she has made wonderful progress.
Humboldt penguins live in South America and are considered a vulnerable species, their population decreasing. One threat lies in the changes to sea surface temperature, which means that Humboldt penguins travel further south and spend more time and energy hunting anchovy and other shoaling fish. They are affected by commercial overfishing and are often entangled in fishing nets.
Of all the penguin species, Humboldt penguins are the shyest and most affected by the presence of humans. It takes penguins up to half an hour for their heartrate to return to normal after approaches by human beings. The stress caused by frequent human visits leads to delay in hunting partners returning and to desertion of nests, ultimately resulting in decreased breeding and a subsequent fall in numbers. About half the pairs produce two chicks at each mating and can breed twice a year.
Feral animals, like goats, dogs and cats also play their part in the decline of the penguins. Goats eat the vegetation the penguins use for their nests, and rats eat the eggs.
Zoos across the world are the reserves for vulnerable species. It may seem wrong to limit such animals to small areas, but if they can be bred there and saved from extinction and possibly numbers released into the wild at some point, it is surely worthwhile to do so.
