KEEPERS at Dudley Zoo are busy playing mum to an abandoned Humboldt penguin chick.

As well as looking after more than 75 residents in Penguin Bay – the largest parent-reared Humboldt group in the UK - keepers are also handrearing the chick, who they found barely alive on the enclosure’s beach.

Section leader, Nicola Wright, said: “It was very touch-and-go when we discovered it, as it wasn’t doing well.

“We think it’s about a month-old, so has been parent-reared for a few weeks, but we’ve no idea who mum and dad are and why it was abandoned.

“Sometimes if there’s more than one chick the parents will abandon the weaker one, or if it’s the stronger one it may have wandered off on its own and no-one came to get it back.”

Dudley News:

After taking the baby under their wing and feeding it three times a day with chunks of sprats, keepers are delighted with its progress.

Nicola added: “The chick is doing really well, as long as it starts to put on weight we’re happy and it responded to food immediately and is steadily increasing in size.”

The chick will remain in the rearing room in the off-show aviaries for a few more weeks before being introduced to the other penguins in the walkthrough enclosure and keepers won't know its sex until it's an adult.