Happy first birthday to our African penguin chicks, Ember and Echo!

11 February, 2026 - Penguins, #NotOnOurWatch, Exhibits, Blog

Happy first birthday to the African penguin chicks at the Two Oceans Aquarium, Ember and Echo!

This week, the Two Oceans Aquarium is celebrating the birthdays of African penguin chicks, Ember and Echo! Our first African penguin chicks in 10 years, they were welcomed to the Aquarium family in February last year.

Now, as we celebrate Ember and Echo’s first birthday, let’s look back on their journeys.

It was an exciting moment when our Penguin Keepers discovered that there were not one but two fertile eggs in our African penguin colony. Typically, African penguins lay two eggs in a clutch, but only the first will hatch. In this extraordinary case, parents Neptune and Alan laid two healthy eggs. Meanwhile, their nest neighbours, Flippy and Ayah, diligently cared for an egg that was unfortunately infertile. Seeing an opportunity to make both penguin couples happy parents, our Penguin Keepers decided to help Flippy and Ayah adopt Neptune and Alan’s second egg. This meant swapping out Flippy and Ayah’s infertile egg for Neptune and Alan’s fertile one. Thankfully, the adoption was successful, and Flippy and Ayah proved to be wonderful adoptive parents. This means that Ember and Echo are siblings!

During the incubation period, our Penguin Keepers regularly “candled” the eggs to monitor the health of the developing penguin embryos safely. Every week, Tiffany, Amy, and Shanet used an LED flashlight in a dark room or a covered box to monitor the eggs. They would carefully remove each egg from the nest, assess and document its development, and quickly return the egg to the waiting parents. The main thing that the Penguin Keepers looked out for was embryo growth – the bigger the penguin embryo grew inside the egg, the less light shone through the egg. As each of the eggs developed, our Penguin Keepers grew more excited!

It was a groundbreaking moment for our penguin team and the Two Oceans Aquarium when the first chick hatched on 10 February. Ember entered the world weighing about 100g, and Echo hatched on 13 February, weighing 70g. Their names, Ember and Echo, honour their Critically Endangered species. An ember is a tiny flame that has the potential and power to grow bigger, while an echo reverberates and impacts long after the original voice quiets. So, our Ember and Echo represent the future hope for the African penguin species.

From the very beginning, the penguin chicks were carefully monitored by our penguin team and vet, Dr Ilse Jenkinson. After hatching, they grew through various phases that were used to monitor their development, all the way from downy P0 to the sleek “blue” phase. These phases brought some exciting firsts for the penguin chicks – at P0 and P1, they were weighed regularly to ensure that they were steadily gaining weight. Dr Ilse meticulously recorded their health data, as these first weeks of life are typically the most crucial for African penguin chicks.

Later, in their P2 and P3 phase, we shared an up-close look at how Ember and Echo’s parents diligently fed them. At this point, their growth rate was steep as their parents were feeding the chicks every three hours or so. Just like in the wild, the penguin parents (Neptune and Alan, Flippy and Ayah) took turns eating pilchards at feeding time and guarding their chicks. After each daily feeding time, the parents would regurgitate nutrient-rich, fatty food directly into their chicks’ mouths to help them grow, sometimes doubling their weight within a week.

In their P3 phase, the chicks were learning how to waddle like real penguins! While quite an amusing and endearing process, it also proved to be hard work for their parents, who had to feed the growing chicks even more to keep up with their increased demands!

After a few months, Ember and Echo began to look a little shabby. This was the P4 phase, when they started to moult out of their fluffy down feathers into their “blue” plumage. This was essentially their shift into teenagerhood!

The transition into their blue phase coincided with a momentous occasion – Ember and Echo moved into the Northern Rockhopper Beach. This move was an important part of their habituation journey, getting the chicks comfortable with human interaction to make vital activities like feeding and health checks as stress-free as possible. Since the rockhopper penguins are much more docile than the feisty African penguins, Ember and Echo learned to interact with humans from the best!

This was the first of many transitions into adulthood. As they were no longer reliant on their parents for food, Ember and Echo learned how to be hand-fed like the other penguins in the colony. Adult penguins have special physiological adaptations to swallow the entire fish, bones and all, meaning that Ember and Echo needed to learn to do the same. This process also strengthened their trust in our Penguin Keepers.

Of course, a proper penguin must know how to swim. Part of a penguin’s incredible adaptations are the waterproof feathers they develop as blues and adults. Ember and Echo’s first step towards their inaugural swim was to have a shower! With moral support from the Penguin Keepers, the two penguins got used to the feeling of cold water on their bodies on the roof of the Kelp Forest Exhibit. The water awakened their natural preening behaviour, in which their grooming activates the oil gland at the base of their tales which helps to maintain the waterproofing function of their feathers.

Finally, the big day arrived – Ember and Echo’s first swim! With their blue plumage officially waterproof, they bravely took their first-ever dip at the Northern Rockhopper Beach. Initially, they were rather clumsy, splashing and flailing about under the watchful eye of our Penguin Keepers. But with practice and a few encouraging words from Tiffany and Amy, they soon gained confidence and became more comfortable in the water.

Once our Penguin Keepers were happy that Ember and Echo were totally confident swimmers, it was time for them to join the rockhoppers for their first dip in the Kelp Forest Exhibit. Waddling in the well-worn footsteps of the rockies, Ember and Echo conquered the stairs and journeyed to the roof. This time, it was a much bigger swimming space, so the chicks needed some reassurance from Tiffany before they were ready to take the plunge. Before we knew it, though, Ember and Echo were happily diving and zooming along with the rockies as though they’d been doing it their whole lives! In fact, it took a lot of patience (and a few tempting pilchards) to get them out of the exhibit later that day…

In their first year, Ember and Echo have had many wonderful, adorable, and wacky moments. We are so proud of their progress – from their days as adorably fluffy chicks to today: Feisty, charismatic, and still adorable.

Celebrate Ember and Echo’s birthday with us at the Aquarium! This weekend (14 – 15 February 2026), Samantha, the African penguin mascot, will be strolling around the Aquarium and making an appearance at Penguin Exhibit feeding times at 11h30 and 14h30.