Ten rare penguin chicks hatch at zoo

Ten penguin chicks hatch at Chester Zoo and conservationists name them after stars and celestial wonders

- BY GARY PORTER

TEN rare Humboldt penguin chicks have hatched at Chester Zoo.

The new arrivals - one of the most at risk out of the world's 17 species of penguin - have been named after constellations and celestial wonders.

The chicks began hatching from their eggs between April 16 and 28 and have spent their first few weeks of life tucked away in their nest burrows.

With penguins, both mum and dad share feeding and parenting duties.

Keepers support the parents by providing plenty of extra fish, which the adult penguins swallow, blend into a protein-rich soup and then regurgitate to feed the chicks.

Each new arrival is also weighed and has their airways checked regularly to help monitor their development - often tripling or even quadrupling in size in just a few weeks.

In a heartwarming development, one of the chicks is being raised by a same-sex penguin couple, Scampi and Flounder.

The devoted duo stepped in to help raise one of two eggs laid by another penguin pair, Wotsit and Peach.