Perth Zoo flips out after welcoming birth of first Little Penguin in 10 years

A newborn Little Penguin is causing a sensation at Perth Zoo.

The fluffy chick was born on October 31 to parents Shrimp and Charlie; The first Little Penguin born at Perth Zoo in 10 years.

Little Penguins – the smallest species of penguins – are the only species permanently resident in Australia and are found off the south coast of WA, including Penguin Island and Garden Island.

The tiny chick was weighed at Perth Zoo on Wednesday morning and weighed just 1.25kg.

Perth Zoo’s senior bird keeper Nicole Longhi described Prawns and Charlie as “really good parents” and added that she was delighted with the chick’s development.

“It’s a very well-developed chick, they did a really great job and were probably fed a little too well at times,” he said.

He said the chick has not been named because its gender is still unknown, and it is nearly impossible to see Little Penguin’s genitals until it is about two years old.

Instead, keepers will determine the chick’s gender by measuring its beak and taking a blood sample.

“It’s all about beak size, that is, the length and width of the beak,” Ms Longhi said.

“We take some blood or feathers to determine DNA sex, then within a month he will have another vet check where the microchip will be implanted and he will have another assessment.”

Ms Longhi said the penguin chicks were shy and the new penguin addition to the zoo would not appear in public for another few weeks.

“Unfortunately, when he comes out he’ll look like a normal penguin… penguin chicks are a bit scared, so they’ll usually stay in the nest and get used to it before going out into the big, bad world,” he said.

“He’ll probably stay in the safety (of the nest) until then.”

Perth Zoo is part of a regional breeding program aimed at increasing the species’ population in Western Australia.

“We want to keep a genetically viable insurance population of WA penguins here at the zoo so that if something happens to our wild penguins… we have genetically viable birds,” Ms Longhi said.