What do you call a puffin and a penguin that are stuffed toys?

To a three-week-old live penguin without siblings around, you call them family.

Pingu is an African penguin who was born in the Living Coasts zoo in Torquay, Devon, England.  However, when zoo staff noticed that the chick was underfed, action had to be taken.  Pingu’s sibling was eating enough food for two and the malnourished chick needed some time alone.

The Senior Head Zookeeper Tony Durkin said, “At first it seemed everything was going well but then we noticed one sibling was growing more quickly than the other. You do get size differences in the wild but it only becomes a problem if the difference gets too great.  We prefer not to interfere, as it’s better for parent birds to rear their young naturally. But as the size difference increased, so did the problem.  The smaller chick was getting some food, just not enough.  When it fell in the pool we decided to give it a helping hand.”

Pingu should be as big as a chicken and then quickly grow to adult-size by only eight-weeks-old.  With hand-feeding by the staff, Pingu’s weight is increasing.

However, something was missing for the penguin - companionship.  Staff spent a few pounds for a solution and added a toy penguin and puffin to the enclosure.

Now Pingu is lonely no more.

“The cuddly penguin toy is something for the chick to cosy up to and be comforted by - a surrogate family for the time being,” says Durkin.

Plans are to return the young chick to the penguin colony, but only when Pingu is strong and big enough to fend for itself.

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

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