15 When the Detroit Zoological Society bird team decided to increase the number of chinstrap penguins in their care, they initially only planned to receive four from a fellow zoo. Then Bird Supervisor Jessica Jozwiak got a call. “The other zoo said their penguins had two eggs, and they wanted to know if we wanted those as well,” she says. “I said yes but asked if the parents could rear the eggs rather than us trying to incubate the eggs and hand-rear the chicks.” The other zoo agreed. Only one of the eggs hatched a surviving chick, and by November 2023, that chick, Pepper, was ready to move to her new home. On Nov. 16, the five chinstrap penguins arrived safely and are now thriving at the Detroit Zoo’s Polk Penguin Conservation Center. “The chinstraps are doing very well, and everything is going as we hoped,” Jozwiak says. The new chinstraps include two males and three females — all younger than the existing Zoo resident chinstraps, who range in age from 7 to 20. The new penguins are: ROCKET | 2-year-old male JARVIS | 2-year-old male FURY | 2-year-old female LYDIA | 2-year-old female PEPPER | 7-month-old female Each new chinstrap has unique personality traits and preferences — for example, Jarvis has discovered a love of the habitat’s snow machine. Though the machine is most used by the Penguin Center’s king penguin residents, Jarvis can often be seen lying in a freshly made snow pile. Of all the species of penguins at the Center (gentoos, macaroni, king penguins, rockhoppers and chinstraps), chinstrap penguins seem to enjoy swimming the most. “The gentoos hop in and out of the pool, but the chinstraps stay in and float around,” Jozwiak says. “They especially enjoy the bubbler. To find the chinstraps, look for the bubbler. They’ll probably be floating around in the bubbles.” This remains true for all the new chinstraps — especially the young Pepper. “As it turns out, Pepper swims more than any of the other penguins,” Jozwiak says. “She comes out for food, then goes right back into the pool.” Jozwiak says the new chinstraps have been a welcome addition to the Detroit Zoo waddle. Along with bringing youth and more genetic diversity to the chinstrap squad, the five new penguins also bring hope for the chinstraps’ future. “Now that we have nine individuals, we’re hoping that in the next year or two, we’ll see some breeding behavior,” she says. FIVE NEW CHINSTRAP PENGUINS JOIN THE ZOO WADDLE
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