The newest penguin in town got to meet the leader of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Head coach Mike Sullivan got a behind-the-scenes visit with a chick named for the hockey event when a player scores three goals in the same game. Hat Trick, nicknamed “Hatty,” is the newest penguin at the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium in Highland Park, the zoo announced Monday.
“I was honored to welcome the newest penguin, Hatty, to our team at the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium,” Sullivan said in a statement. “We love to visit the real penguins in their habitat and see their personalities. Some remind me of a few of our Penguins players.”
Hatty began as an egg that was discarded by its parents, which typically happens. A pair of gentoo penguins successfully hatched a healthy female chick that will not be in her home for several weeks until she has her adult feathers and passes a swim test. Then she will gradually be introduced to the penguin habitat in the aquarium.
Hatty is a macaroni penguin, which are known by distinctive yellow head feathers. Historically, macaroni penguins lay two eggs in a clutch and often smash or discard the first egg, according to the zoo.
Staff was able to pull the first egg laid by Sammy and Elsa and place it under another species — gentoo penguin pair Mambo and Cookie — to allow the egg to develop.
Gentoo penguins have a band of white feathers extending across the top of the head from just above each eye. They also have black throats, a brush tail and a bill that is mostly deep orange or red.
The egg proved fertile, and staff was able to track the fertilization and development process through candling, or shining a light through the egg.
Staff assisted in opening the egg.
“The gentoo pair immediately took to the egg and did a fantastic job of incubating it for approximately 35 days,” zoo aquarist Shanna Gay said in a statement.
Found from the sub-Antarctic to the Antarctic peninsula, the macaroni penguin population is estimated to be about 18 million, according to the zoo.
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The decline of the overall population in the past 30 years has resulted in the classification of the species as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.
Hatty arrived on May 12 — Mother’s Day. A DNA test determined the chick to be female. She weighed 61 grams.
“I thought that was very fitting for our first-time foster mom, Cookie,” Gay said. “The chick is quite adorable, and she is now over 1 kilogram and growing strong. We have started to introduce hand feeding in addition to the food she is receiving from her parents.”