Macaroni penguin born at Pittsburgh Zoo is being fostered in multi-species family

By Madeline Bartos

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    PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A macaroni penguin born at the Pittsburgh Zoo was named Hatty after she achieved a hat trick of survival.

The zoo said when Hatty was an egg, she was discarded by her parents. Macaroni penguins lay two eggs and usually smash or discard the first one. This year, zoo staff pulled the first egg and gave it to gentoo penguin pair Mambo and Cookie, who did a “fantastic job” of incubating it for about 35 days.

Hatty’s egg was fertile, but as the hatching process began, she wasn’t making much progress. The zoo said staff helped by opening the egg slightly and giving it to Hatty’s foster dad. She scored her third goal when, after hatching, her foster parents welcomed her. The zoo said they’ve been doing a wonderful job raising her.

Hatty isn’t ready to meet the public yet, but she did get a special visit from Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan.

Once Hatty gets her adult feathers and passes her swim test, she’ll be gradually introduced to the penguin habitat at the zoo’s aquarium, where both macaroni and gentoo penguins live.

There are about 18 million macaroni penguins in the wild. They’re classified as a vulnerable species because of the overall population decline in the last 30 years.

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