Great news for Ohope the little penguin!

We’re so pleased with the great progress of our little penguin (kororā) chick!

Named after the beach where it was found, little penguin Ohope arrived at our vet hospital seven weeks ago on an Air Chatham flight from our friends at Bird Rescue Whakatane Trust at a lean 157 grams and now is close to 1kg in weight!

Our Vet Hospital nurse Celene says that although Ohope is at an age where they should be eating solid foods, this penguin has been slow to take them up. Our vet team have been encouraging Ohope to eat bigger pieces of fish while supplementing the diet with nutrient-rich fish slurry.

One of Ohope’s feathers has been sent off for DNA testing so we can tell if this little penguin is male or female! As birds don’t have external genitalia this is the best way to determine their sex.

Once Ohope has adapted to eating solid foods and all of their adult waterproof feathers have come in, they will be joining our group of little penguin rescues in our marine habitat The Coast in Te Wao Nui.