Central Park Zoo is celebrating the arrival of a royal baby.
The king penguin chick hatched at the Manhattan zoo in August is the first of its kind hatched in New York City.
The chick was hatched in public view at the zoo's Polar Circle exhibit and then it and its parents were moved behind the scenes so zoo officials could carefully monitor the young penguin's health and development and its interaction with its parents.
The trio recently rejoined the rest of the zoo's penguin colony, where zoo guests will be able to witness the chick transform from a gawky brownish ball of fluff to an elegant adult penguin. It starts to molt its downy brown features when it is about 10 months old.
King penguins are native to subantarctic islands north of Antarctica and the near-by Falkland Islands (Las Malvinas), and Tierra del Fuego. They are the second-largest penguin species, surpassed only by their close relative, the emperor penguin.
Rather than building a nest, the king penguin parents incubate the egg on their feet, safely tucked under a flap of skin called a brood pouch to keep it warm. The egg is passed between the parents for the entire incubation period of 53 to 62 days. Once the chick hatches, it stays with its parents for 10 to 13 months.
The Polar Circle exhibit at the Central Park Zoo is built to replicate conditions penguins experience in the wild. It is home to more than 60 penguins of four species, including gentoo, chinstrap, rockhopper and king. King penguins joined the zoo's colony in 2010, though none have been born there until now.
The new addition brings the total number of king penguins to seven. The chick's sex has yet to be determined.
