First Macaroni Penguin Chick for Folly Farm!

Folly Farm has welcomed its first ever Macaroni penguin chick to its Penguin Coast exhibit.

The Pembrokeshire zoo houses two species of penguins at Penguin Coast - Humboldt penguins, who arrived at the zoo in 2013, and the Macaroni penguins, with their distinctive yellow crest feathers, who arrived during lockdown in 2020. The Pembrokeshire zoo were in a position to help out 'Living Coasts' in Devon, who sadly closed post-pandemic and needed to find a new home for their colony of macaroni penguins. Folly Farm is the only collection in the UK currently housing this particular species of penguin.

The two species have thrived and co-habited happily ever since. The zoo has celebrated hugely successful breeding seasons for many years with its Humboldt penguins as part of the European Breeding Programme for the vulnerable species. In fact, the penguin keepers have welcomed over 40 Humboldt penguin chicks - but they’ve unfortunately had little success with the breeding of the Macaroni penguins…until now!

Folly penguin keepers were surprised and delighted to discover a newly hatched Macaroni penguin chick several weeks ago when carrying out their checks on the animals as part of their morning duties, which they now know is a male who they've fondly named 'Ravioli'.

A first for the penguin team, the keepers soon discovered that the other macaroni penguins in the colony were getting a bit too close for comfort and their curious nature meant Ravioli was being disturbed in his nest. Not wanting to cause stress to the new arrival or his parents - keepers moved Ravioli along with mum and dad, into the safety of the enclosure’s ‘Penguin Nursery’, an off-display section where he can remain in the protective care of mum and dad in peace and quiet, grow his waterproof feathers and learn how to feed on whole fish, before heading back to join the main colony when he can confidently fend for himself.

The team have completely fallen in love with Ravioli's beautiful, quiet nature and despite growing quickly at now eight weeks old - he still remains extremely fluffy and is putting on weight each day. All very positive signs that he'll be able to join the main colony when he's strong enough.

Caz Davies, one of the zoo’s Assistant Managers and Penguin Keepers enthused; "We're beyond thrilled that Ravioli is growing strong and continuing to do so well. This is so exciting for us as keepers. To welcome our first Macaroni penguin chick to the colony will hopefully mean we can have more successful breeding for this species as well as with our Humboldt penguins, as part of the European Breeding Programme."

Ravioli is currently off display to guests - but the zoo hope to welcome him back into the main colony soon. Keep an eye on the Folly Farm social channels for more adorable updates and perfect penguin pics until then!