The Detroit Zoo Welcomes Adorable King Penguin Chick to the Family

Oh, baby! The Detroit Zoo has welcomed a new baby to the family and the king-sized bundle of joy and already stealing everyone's heart.

Thanks to a collaboration between the Detroit Zoo and the Cincinnati Zoo, a new King Penguin chick has joined the zoo family. The new addition entered the world on August 13th and was a labor of love for both zoos.

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The new chick's parents, 27-year-old Larry and 8-year-old Stacy initially laid the egg 300 miles away at the Cincinnati Zoo. The new little one will actually be raised by its foster parents here in Michigan at the Detroit Zoo. The soon-to-be foster King Penguin parents blended and bonded during the July to September mating season, but unfortunately didn’t produce an egg of their own. Now, the pair will have a chance to be parents after all.

“It was a perfect situation,” said Jessica Jozwiak, bird supervisor at the DetroitZoological Society (DZS). “We had a pair that was closely bonded but did not produce an egg this year, so we were able to give this egg to them. Everything has worked out wonderfully.”

To prepare for the arrival of the eg and parenthood, zookeepers provided the pair a “practice” egg to care for until the “real” egg from the Cincinnati Zoo arrived.

Since the little one has arrived, the new little King chick has been well taken care of by its new parents at the zoo, and the family is bonding.

“They are excellent, attentive parents,” Jozwiak said of the foster parents. “We don’t know the sex of the chick just yet, but we are all looking forward to watching it grow up. We are already picking out names we can give the chick once we know the sex.”

There's no word on when the family will be available for viewing by the public, but there's no doubt the new King will be a popular attraction.