hand-rearing

Hand-rearing a King penguin chick

at Whipsnade Park Aptenodytes patagonica

A. WHITE, C. BATES, R. WINGATE, W. D I X O N , T. MOXEY & J. BAINES Head Keeper and Keepers, Section VI, The Zoological Society ofLondon, Whipmade Park, Whipmade, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, Great Britain

Eight King penguins Aptenodytes prltagorrica were purchased in March 1969. Although they appeared healthy and were feeding well on arrival, three 88 were lost with aspergillosis in April and May. Jnhalant therapy and careful attention to the diet of the remaining birds enabled them to joint the flock of Humboldt's penguins Spheniscus hutnboldti and Blackfoot penguins Spheniscus demersus already established on the pond. In 1972 a group of Rockhopper penguins Eirdyptes chrysocorne were added.

The Kmg penguins gave such close attention to five Humboldt chicks hatched in May 1970 that it was considered wise to remove the young from the pond in case of injury. The presence of these young birds, however, may have stimulated the breeding instincts of the King penguins for on 27 June the first egg was laid. Fourteen days later, after incubation had started, this egg was broken by the adults. In 1972, a broken egg, found on 7 June, contained a fully formed chick whch had probably been incubated beyond the hatching date. Two eggs were laid in June 1973 but disappeared, and a further two in June 1974. One of these hatched on 29 July after a gaday incubation period and was reared to independence by the parent birds. Thieves took the first egg of the 1975 season on 3 1 May but a further two eggs were laid on 20 and 21 June. These were well and closely incubated during a long hot spell, the birds sitting in dxect sunlight with temperatures in the shade exceeding 27Oc for several days. It seemed, however, that the parent birds eventually found it too hot to continue sitting for on 3 August we found one egg floating in the pond. The second was found there the following day. They were retrieved and placed in an incubator at 36"c with a relative humidity of 50-60%.

The first chick, whch was assisted from the egg on 11 August (52 days incubation), was in a very weak state and died five days later. Early on I 3 August, the second chick had succeeded in chpping a small hole in the shell and this was gradually enlarged by the keepers throughout the day. Finally, at 1815 hours, it was assisted from the egg (53 days incubation).

The chick weighed 233.9 g on hatching. It was fed at first on finely minced herring Clupea harengirs and sprats Sprattus sprattus, from whch all bones, fms and tails had been removed. Fish eaters' supplement was added, I g per 850 g of food, throughout the hand-rearing period. The mixture was given using a syringe with a 3 mm nozzle. The bird was fed five times daily.

Originally the feeds were given between 0830 and 1830 but the night interval was found to be too long and the feeds were retimed with the last feed at 2230. The weight gains increased markedly thereafter. The bird was weighed before and after each feed (Fig. I). A slight setback in growth rate, thought to have been associated with poor fish quality, occurred at day 21 and treatment with a mixture of Terra- mycin and Tylan 50 and a multi-vitamin prepara- tion, Abidec, was instituted. This resulted in a marked improvement within three days. Five days later we noticed a local thickening of the slun on the bird's chest which bled when damag- ed on the sides of the brooder. This was painted with a solution of 5% idoxiuridine in dimethyl sulphoxide for five days and regressed very

On day 27, whole minced sprats were fed by syringe and on day 3 2 the mixture was fed by hand. Two whole small sprats were accepted on day 43 and from day 56 only whole fish was given. The five daily feeds were reduced to four

quickly.

HAND-RBARING

k%l

days

Fig. I. Weight increase of a hand-reared King penguin Aptenodytes patagonica chick at Whipsnade Park. A. treatment with Tylan 50 injection and Abidec to offset decrease in growth rate. B. treatment for minor injury (see text).

after the first 18 days and to three at 48 days. At 84 days two daily feeds were given and the adult

regime of one feed a day was introduced at six and half months of age.

The first loss of down occurred from the flippers on day 25 when the bird weighed 9'526 kg and the moult was completed by day 169. At this time, the mandibular plates were just beginning to appear pink. At eight months old the penguin was returned to the parent flock where it has settled down well.

PRODUCTS MENTIONED IN THE TBXT Abidec: vitamin supplement containing vitamins A, D, B,, B,, B, and nicotinamide manufactured by Parke-Davis & Co., Pontypool, Monmouthshire "4 8YH, Great Britain. Fish eaters' supplement: manufactured by BP Nutritional Products, Stepfield, Witham, Essex, Great Britain. Terramycin: an antibiotic (oxytetracycline hydro- chloride) manufactured by Pfizer Ltd, Sandwich, Kent, Great Britain. Tylan 50: antibiotic with Tylosin activity (as Tylosin base) manufactured by Elanco Products Ltd, Broadway House, The Broadway, London, SWIg IRR, Great Britain.

Manuscript submitted 4 May 1976

Hand-rearing a California sealion Za lophus californianus

THOMAS OTTENl , B R A D ANDREWS2 & D. DWIGHT EDWARDS3 Turator of Mammals, 2Associate Curator and 3Consultant Veterinarian, Marineland of the Pacific, Itic.,

POB 937, Palos Verdes Peninsula, California 90274, USA

Eighteen sealions Zalophus californianus are kept at Marineland of the Pacific in an exhibit where feeding by members of the public is allowed. Around the front and sides of the oval 1 2 ' 2 ~

4 6 m pool is a 91'4cm ledge, on which the sealions stand, bracing themselves against the wall with their front flippers to receive food from the public. The pool holds 227,122 litres of filtered sea water to which chlorine is added to levels not exceeding 0.4 ppm combined. A 6 m wide concrete land area, tapering at either end, is situated at the back of the pool and behind the

rear wall is an area with eight kennels where the animals can be given individual attention.

There are eight mature $Q, six immature 9, three immature 88 and a bull, approximately nine years old, whose weight is estimated at 275 kg. During the breeding season, May to the end of July, he actively plays his role as harem master, although he does not fast during this period, nor does he defend the area. It has been our experience that the pups, which are born April, May and early June, are all premature births. One factor in t h i s could be the nature of