Penguin party expands with the birth of two chicks at Byculla zoo

Away from visitorsrsquo glare due to the pandemic the chilly corner of Byculla zoo spawned two cute storiesmdashthe arrival of penguin chicks One young male Oreo was hatched on Maharashtra Day while the other was born on August 19 said Mayor Kishori Pednekar on Wednesday But the announcement made the Opposition flipping mad which accused the BMC of keeping it under wraps for too longOfficials at the Byculla zoo officially known as Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan said the newest member of the Humboldt family is yet to be namedThe penguin exhibit until May 1 had seven adult penguins three males and four females that were brought in 2016 They are all named after popular cartoon characters mdash Donald Daisy Popeye Olive Flipper Bubble Mr Molt While the BMC had got eight penguins from Seoul one of them Dory died of bacterial infection within a few monthsZoo officials said the pair Donald and Daisy are parents to Oreo The chick has been completely parentreared and vets only assisted the parents by feeding them every 23 hours The vets check Oreorsquos weight every morning which helps them decide whether it needs supplemental feedingldquoOreo mostly hangs out with female penguin Bubble and roams around the exhibit and has also switched to eating fish like an adult penguin now and doesnrsquot need any special dietrdquo said an officialSharing more on Oreo the official said ldquoOreo is in his juvenile coat and will undergo moulting into his adult coat at about 1 year Moulting is very stressful for young penguins and thus we are taking utmost care of these penguins at the exhibit and the zoo being shut for visitors has also helped themrdquoMolt and Flipper are parents to the other chick and are looking after it The zoo authorities are yet to determine the sex of the chick A civic official said the young ones are vulnerable to diseases up to 3 months and they are taking its utmost careMayor Pednekar said ldquoIt is happy news that there are two chicks that the zoo has welcomed and a team of vets and experts are monitoring their wellbeing Oreo has even started to hang out with the others and is also eating fish like the other adultsrdquoMolt had mated with Flipper in 2018 as well and the first penguin was born in India on the Independence Day of that year but it died within a weekOpposition upsetWhile the news of the birth of the penguin chicks will cheer the city the Opposition is upset that the civic administration took too long to announce it Sources said not many were aware of this development except for a few top officials Though the mayor was informed a few days ago it was her decision to reveal it on Wednesday they saidPrabhakar Shinde BJPrsquos group leader in BMC said ldquoWhat is the need to hide such good news from the citizens and elected representatives from whom the civic body is collecting revenue to maintain these birds Were the corporation and the mayor looking for an auspicious day to announce what we should have known in May itselfrdquoOpposition leader and Congress corporator Ravi Raja said ldquoIt is very happy news but it has also revealed the functioning of the administration and how they run things on their own whims and fancies I came to know about this only today through the press conferencerdquoJust recently a controversy had broken out over the upkeep of the penguins with the BJP wondering why the BMC is spending R15 crore on it The corporation hadjustified the expenses saying the birds had brought in revenue to the civic bodyZoo Director Sanjay Tripathi said ldquoWe wanted to ensure that the penguin chicks are healthy and looked after properly and even now we are closely monitoring themrdquo