Several new bundles of joy have joined the Georgia Aquarium family.
The aquarium announced on Twitter and Facebook Wednesday that six new African penguins have hatched at the facility, but there will be more to come as the season continues.
“Prepare yourself for cuteness!” the aquarium tweeted. “There are some new family members at Georgia Aquarium — penguin chicks! So far, 6 chicks have hatched, but the season isn’t over yet!”
The accompanying video shows a wobbling chick, eyes closed as it’s held by a gloved handler. Staff weighs and check several of the chicks’ breathing before one staff member brings a hatching egg over for another to see.
In response to the footage, several Georgia Aquarium fans took to Facebook to share their glee.
“Adorable!!” one exclaimed.
Another commenter asked, “How do I get this job??” to which someone replied, “when you find out, let me know cause I wanna join you.”
The gushing continued on Twitter with people unable to contain their excitement over the cuteness that spilled over.
African penguins are found in the Southwestern African countries of Namibia and South Africa. In the wild, chicks will be fed by their parents for up to three months once they hatch. That occurs after two, or sometimes as many as four, eggs are laid and incubated for 38-42 days. The parents, which mate for life, relieve one another daily as they tend to their young, according to the Georgia Aquarium website.
Young penguins have juvenile feathers in shades of grey while their stomach and chest are a lighter hue. After fledgling, a process where they molt their down and their juvenile feathers grow in, they’ll keep those feathers for one year. Then, they molt and an adult layer of feathers, or plumage, comes in.
It’ll be a little while before the new chicks reach that stage. In the meantime, you can catch the adult African penguins preening and swimming along on the live webcam.
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