Love At First Waddle? African Penguins Meet For 1st Time

TAMPA, FL — Valentine’s Day may still be months away, but that’s not stopping the folks at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo and The Florida Aquarium from doing a little matchmaking. Officials are hoping that “Rocky” and “Thumbelina,” a pair of critically endangered African penguins, will hit it off.

Rocky, one of the aquarium’s resident penguins, was recently introduced to Thumbelina at the zoo. Their introduction was captured on video, complete with Rocky’s waltz – err, waddle – out of the aquarium to load up for the ride to meet his intended.

Get the Patch newsletter and alerts in your inbox.

The two penguins were matched together as a compatible mating pair in cooperation with the Association of Zoos and Aquarium’s Species Survival Plan and the SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction) program.

“It is our hope that these amazing animals’ offspring inspire guests to help us protect this critically endangered species for many generations to come,” Margo McKnight, the aquarium’s senior vice president of conservation, science and research, said in a statement issued Aug. 22.

Dr. Larry Killmar, the zoo’s chief zoological officer, agrees.

“We are proud to be working to preserve a species like the African penguin, which faces a number of threats in the wild,” he said.

Watch as Rocky and Thumbelina meet:

The species survival program is a conservation management program that AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums take part in. The program is intended to “ensure a healthy and self-sustaining population that is both genetically diverse and demographically stable,” the zoo explained in an email to media.

Since African penguins are known to mate for life, Rocky and Thumbelina falling in love at first waddle isn't necessarily a given, zoo officials say.

“Rocky and Thumbelina will be slowly introduced to one another all the while being closely monitored by our animal care staff,” Killmar said.

If Rocky and Thumbelina do take a shine to each other, Rocky will have to “court” her. If she accepts the courting, “they will continue to mate for life,” the zoo said.

Female African penguins produce between one to two eggs at a time. It takes about 40 days of incubation, with both mother and father protecting the eggs, before hatchlings emerge.

“Having healthy, thriving populations of penguins at zoos and aquariums is only one piece of the puzzle,” McKnight said. “African penguins are a species that need our help if they are going to survive in their native South Africa. The AZA S.A.F.E. program joins the collective forces and resources of more than 65 zoos and aquariums across the nation to help protect their coastal habitat, ensure they have sufficient nesting structures and rescue and rehabilitate when environmental disasters strike such as oil spills.”

As for Rocky and Thumbelina, McKnight said they “are a symbol of the future of penguins in Tampa and importantly inspire and remind us to continue our work to save this species in their natural environment.”

African penguins were deemed “relatively abundant” in the early 20th century, but “a suite of threats including habitat loss and massive declines in prey abundance have resulted in a steep population decline,” the AZA’s website explains. While efforts to preserve the species have been under way, the AZA reports that the “species is still declining at an alarming rate.”

To find out more about the AZA’s Species Survival Plan programs, visit the organization online.

More information about Lowry Park Zoo can be found on its website. To find out more about The Florida Aquarium, check it out online.

Screenshot and video courtesy of Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo