The world's premier penguin-breeding facility at San Diego's Sea World has a bumper crop of 30 penguin chicks from three species this breeding season. Penguin foster mom Anne Mulford, who is also senior aviculturist, says, each has his own personality from the day they hatch. Mulford told PEOPLE Pets. "Each species has a personality, too. The Gentoos are very sweet and calm. The Adélies are pushy and wild. The Macaroni are kind of needy, but in a cute way."
Sea World raises the chicks by hand when parents have a bad history, pick a bad nest site, or reject a fertile egg. The Macaronis have two eggs, but only raise one, Mulford explains, so the zoo incubates the other. The chicks eat a slurry of herring, krill and vitamins. "It looks like a strawberry shake but does not taste like strawberry," she said. Sea World regulates light and temperature to simulate the tip of Antarctica, where it's now summer. Mulford supplies rocks for the penguins to build nests and they mix up the population to create new pairings. "That's always exciting when you get a new boyfriend or girlfriend," she says.
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