Zookeepers Care For Fertile Penguin Eggs At Tulsa Zoo

The Tulsa Zoo has some "eggciting" news, two of its penguins laid a fertile egg.

It is nesting season for the colony of African penguins at the Tulsa Zoo. Each year, the zoo gets recommendations from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums on which penguins to breed together based on their genetics. Lenny and Tallulah were paired up and had a baby chick two years ago but could soon be expecting another.

Taylor Harris, Zoological Supervisor of the Birds Department said, "They had a couple of eggs this year and we are very thankful to have one that is showing development and that is fertile."

Within 24 hours of the eggs being laid, zookeepers retrieve the eggs from the penguin's parents and replace them with an artificial one. The real eggs are kept in an incubator where zookeepers can keep an eye on their development.

"With parents like Lenny and Tallulah that are still practicing there is always a risk of them stepping on the egg or doing something that could damage it," said Harris. "By having it here we are able to closely monitor it, but still give them the natural process of sitting on that artificial egg and they are doing a really good job."

The zookeepers visit the incubation room to do checkups on the real eggs every day. "We closely monitor the temperature and humidity, and we weigh the egg," Harris continued saying, "There is a little conveyor belt underneath the incubator and every hour it rotates the egg and then we also manually turn those eggs."

Another important step in the process is candling. Harris said that is when they take a special flashlight and turn out the lights to see inside the egg, looking for veins or movement.

In 38 to 42 days the fertile egg will hatch, meaning this baby chick could enter the world sometime in mid-January. "Our plan is as soon as it starts the hatching process to then give it back to the parents so that they can do the process of raising the chick," said Harris.

African penguins are an endangered species. The zoo said this breeding program is an integral part of the species survival plan.