AUSTRALIA: Keepers at a Sydney zoo introduce the rare Fiordland Crested penguin to two females, which haven't seen a male for 13 years
- 00:00:24
- ITN Source
AUSTRALIA: Keepers at a Sydney zoo introduce the rare Fiordland Crested penguin to two females, which haven't seen a male for 13 years
A Sydney zoo has recently taken in a very rare new arrival, a male Fiordland Crested penguin, thought to have swum 2,000 kilometres (1,243 miles) before it washed up on Australian shores. The new male arrival, called Mr. Munro, is causing a flutter among the two female penguins at the zoo. They haven't seen a male penguin of the same species in 13 years. Exhausted and ill, Mr. Munro was found by zoo staff washed up on a beach north of Sydney. Now that he's made a full recovery, the female penguins, named Chalky and Milford, have been able to cast their eyes on Mr. Munro for the first time. And it seems that they might be liking what they see. Sydney's Taronga Zoo is the only one to breed the Fiordland Crested Penguin in captivity, so keepers hope these three will do what comes naturally and the patter of little happy feet could follow. Zoo keeper Elle Bombonato thinks Mr. Munro already has a favourite. "I personally think that Munro actually takes a liking to Milford over there and that's the female with the longer crest and yeah it's looking promising," said Bombonato. Fiordland Crested penguins are only found in New Zealand, and there are less than 1,000 breeding pairs in the wild, Bombonato explained. "They're probably one of the rarest species of penguins in the world and that's simply because of their habitat, where they're found, they're found in temperate rainforest, that makes them very difficult for scientists to study them so that also makes them very rare," he said. Keepers hope Mr. Munro's arrival will make it possible to study the species' breeding and brooding habits, which has previously been difficult in the wild as the penguins generally nest in thick vegetation. Penguin keepers say that due to tough quarantine laws in Australia, they had to literally wait for a male to wash up on Australian shores so the penguins could have a mate.
ITN Source | April 21, 2007
