Hand-reared penguins celebrate first birthday

When penguin chicks Rico and Skipper were abandoned by their parents, aquarist Todd German stepped in to take them under his wing.

For the first few weeks of their lives, the chicks were fed a special fish soup mix six times a day with the aid of a syringe. Now, thanks to the care given by their surrogate dad, the pair are celebrating their first birthday at Scarborough Sea Life Sanctuary.

And Todd was on hand to deliver his special foster kids an appropriate fishy birthday treat.

After moving into the heated seal hospital at the Sanctuary when about two months old the pair would waddle round the Centre in Todd’s footsteps as he made his daily rounds of the displays.

Having been hand-reared Rico and Skipper have no fear of humans and quickly became the stars of the Sanctuary’s new walkthrough Penguin Island experience.