Byculla’s Veermata Jijabai Bhosale (VJB) Zoo welcomed first penguin chick around 8:00 pm on the Independence Day i.e. August 15, 2018. Penguin couple Flipper and Molt are now proud parents after laying an egg on On July 5, 2018. This chick is the first penguin to be born in captivity in the country.
Welcome the first penguin born in #Mumbai!
— Mumbai Live (@MumbaiLiveNews) August 16, 2018
The baby penguin was born last night in #Byculla zoo.
cc: @hashMumbai @iamamumbaikar @MumbaiCandid pic.twitter.com/q20S82VfVB
On July 5, 2018, The penguin caretakers realised that the couple Flipper and Molt had a single egg after a long period of courtship.
Yuva Sena Chief Aditya Thackeray too confirmed the good news on Twitter.
We have some great news coming in from Rajmata Jijamaya Udyaan (Byculla Zoo)! Our 🐧 parents have delivered a freedom baby! The parents and the chic are doing well. My congratulations to all those involved in this process, especially Dr. Tripathi & his team and Sudhir Naik ji!
— Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) August 16, 2018
The penguin enclosure at the zoo is home to seven penguins where Molt and Flipper were the first to pair up, Donald and Daisy, and Popeye and Olive followed suit, leaving female Bubble alone.
On July 26, 2016, a total of eight Humboldt penguins — three males and five females — were brought from Seoul to the Byculla zoo. However, one of them, Dory, died on October 23, 2016, of a bacterial infection.