It was in July 2016 that eight Humboldt penguins arrived from Seoul, South Korea, at the Byculla zoo in Mumbai. Back then Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had revealed that it would cost Rs 45 crores over a period of five years to maintain these endearing flightless marine birds in a tropical country as exhibits in the zoo. They were eventually named Donald, Daisy, Popeye, Olive, Flipper (oldest female), Bubble, Mr Molt (youngest male) and Dory, although Dory died in October 2016 due to bacterial infection.
Around 8pm on Wednesday, Mr Molt and Flipper became proud parents. Last month Flipper laid an egg at the Veermata Jijabai Udyan, popularly known as Byculla zoo. The egg hatched on the 72nd Independence Day and India got its first penguin born in captivity. The newborn penguin has been named "Freedom Baby" for now.
Humboldt penguins are native to the coasts of Chile and Peru and inhabit warmer climes when compared to Emperors and Adélies which reside in the continent of Antarctica. Humboldt current is a cold-water ocean current off the coast of South America. Humboldt penguins are thinner, medium-sized, about 56-70cm tall, and are blackish grey and white for the most part.
BMC has invested in a 35,000 sqft penguin house, a rocky, climate-controlled enclosure where the temperatures range anywhere between 14-16 degrees Celsius, and holds 40,000 litres of water for the penguins to swim. The cost of the enclosure is estimated to be around Rs 113 crore.
On August 15, the 40-day incubation period of the egg had ended. In the run-up to this day, Flipper had forgotten to eat and would stay close to the egg, guarding it closely and letting it go only when Mr Molt would step in. In fact, a team of doctors had been put on stand-by the whole week to keep an eye on the egg. Now the baby penguin will be kept under close scrutiny for three months when the parents will feed and nourish the baby.
The first time the proposal was even made to bring in penguins to the Mumbai zoo was back in 2009. When they were finally brought in, there was a huge ruckus and media furore in the city, with opposition parties and animal right activists alleging corruption and raising grave concerns about the birds' survival in a tropical country. Penguins in the Mumbai zoo have contributed to a spike in its footfall and revenue.
This Independence Day also saw a new member at the Delhi zoo. Two cubs were born to white tigress Nirbhaya and a five-year-old Royal Bengal tiger called Karan, a result of an inbreeding experiment after 27 years.