TWO LITTLE BUNDLES OF CUTENESS: COME AND MEET THE TWO NEWBORN PENGUINS
Have you ever seen a newborn penguin? Come and admire two of them!
In the
penguin colony at
Cattolica Aquarium, two fluffy little heads are already peeking out of the nest!
The parents are Becchetto and Piumina, two
Humboldt penguins (Spheniscus humboldti), both born in Cattolica in 2022 and inseparable from the very start: they grew up together, played together, squabbled together — and during the mating season, they formed a new pair.
On 3 and 5 May, their first two chicks were born: an exceptional event, and a double joy.
This is the very first time that the same pair has given birth to two chicks, and with them the colony now has its 8th and 9th chicks born since 2012.
A truly special event
It all begins with the choice of a nest dug amongst the rocks and forty days of shared brooding, during which mum and dad took turns without ever leaving the eggs unattended.
After hatching, the chicks are fed, beakful by beakful, with pre-digested fish, until they are ready to discover the world on their own.
From soft grey to aquatic black
What you see now — if you come to visit them — is the softest moment of all.
The two chicks are wrapped in a thick, warm grey down, which protects them as they grow, sheltered by their parents’ bodies.
Within three months, their
first moult will take place, followed by their
juvenile plumage, and then — around their first year —
the black-and-white plumage of the adults,
with their distinctive breast band.
But for now, this soft grey is all theirs
What will they be called?
The two chicks don’t have names yet. The public will choose them — a simple gesture that will bind them forever to those who met them in their very first days of life.
When to see them
The chicks can already be seen during
feeding times: at
10.30 am and
2.30 pm,
every day.
Who are the
Humboldt penguins in the Cattolica colony?
Click here to get to know them one by one.
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