Meet Ari, the Aquarium of the Pacific’s newest Magellanic penguin
He was born on May 9 to Kate and Robbie, two rescues who have lived at the aquarium since 2011.
The Aquarium of the Pacific welcomed a new feathery friend into the world a few months ago. On Thursday, staff introduced Ari the Magellanic penguin to the public.
Born on May 9, Ari is the son of Kate and Robbie, who have called the AOP home for the last 15 years. The pair were found in 2010 stranded in Brazil — at least 1,500 miles from where they are usually found off the southern coasts of Chile and Argentina.
After being rescued, the penguins were rehabilitated at the AOP, where they have lived ever since.
Kate and Robbie paired up for breeding four years ago. After several eggs that didn’t hatch for one reason or another, they finally had Ari.
“It’s very exciting to see them come full circle,” Ashley Loper, a husbandry specialist at the AOP, told the Watchdog Thursday.
According to the AOP, Magellanic penguins typically stay with their parents for one to two months as they grow to an adult length of 24-30 inches). Next, the chicks are moved to a “behind-the-scenes penguin nursery for one-on-one specialized care,” according to the Loper.
“Raising a penguin chick is very demanding, they require a lot of food … up to four times a day,” Loper said. “We were also weighing Ari every single morning to make sure he was gaining weight.”
Loper explained that, when they are born, penguins’ down is cute and fluffy, but not waterproof.
They cannot go into water until their down is replaced by feathers.
In the nursery, the chicks learn to swim and participate in feedings until they’re ready to join the others in the June Keyes Penguin Habitat.
Aquarium staff feed the penguins restaurant-quality seafood and Thursday was Ari’s first feeding with the rest of his colony. Despite one apparent bullying incident and a little pickiness, eventually Loper successfully fed Ari two fish.
In addition to seeing Ari in person at the aquarium, the public can see him and the rest of his waddle through a live-feed webcam on the aquarium’s website.
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