April is a great month in San Antonio. Spring is in the air, the temperatures aren’t boiling yet, and the promise of a fun-filled summer lies ahead. What we are most excited about at SeaWorld San Antonio’s Penguin Encounter is the abundance of the biggest babies around – king chicks!
While most penguin species lay two eggs, king penguins only lay one. They carefully balance their egg on the top of their feet, and completely cover it with a protective fold of feathered skin known as a “brood pouch.” Our king penguins began laying their eggs back in late December, and as they take approximately 55 days to hatch, our first chicks began hatching in early March. The newly hatched chicks remain in the brood pouch as long as they fit, but quickly outgrow it and instead stand huddled against their parents.
Our king chicks will likely be large enough to be easily seen by mid to late April. They’ll spend the entire summer decked out in a full coat of brown, fluffy chick down, even when they are as large as their parents! So take a break from the bright April sun, duck inside the cool darkness of the Penguin Encounter, and check out our king penguin chicks. Who needs the Easter bunny when SeaWorld San Antonio’s Penguin Encounter has some of the cutest chicks around?
