Isabelle Bates
·4-min read
A baby penguin has been nursed back to health thanks in part to a handmade baby bouncer. Flop the Humboldt penguin was born at Dudley Zoo and Castle back in April and at first, everything seemed fine.
But after a few weeks, her mum sadly died and her dad began leaving her alone for long periods of time. Zoo staff decided to intervene and began rearing her alongside four other penguin chicks who needed their help.
After some weeks, she developed a limp with did not get better despite pain relief and anti-inflammatories from the vet. Blood tests revealed that she had suffered a reaction to an infection and she was given more medication.
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Within a matter of days, her appetite was decreasing and she became withdrawn and her survival and any possible quality of life was looking bleak. But zoo keepers got to thinking about out-of-the box solutions to Flop's issues.
A spokesperson for the zoo said: "Penguins are generally gorge feeders, eating large amounts in small numbers of feeds. However, as Flop now couldn’t stand, all of her weight was on her front which made consuming and digesting large volumes of fish likely very uncomfortable for her.
"Keepers began giving Flop lots of feeds with smaller quantities, which meant coming back to the zoo around 10pm each evening to give her the final feed of the day. They also had to resort to force feeding her to ensure she completed her course of antibiotics and any weight loss was kept to a minimum.
"In a bid to try and take the pressure off her internal organs, which would aid her digestion and get her standing upright, staff came up with the equivalent of a baby bouncer, which they handmade for her.
"Every morning keepers placed Flop into the bouncer to be fed, allowing her feet to just touch the floor. They hoped this would get her used to being upright and start to engage her feet and hips, leaving her in it for supervised periods of time, while they fed the rest of the hand-reared youngsters.
"They also constructed a unique ‘treadmill’ and adapted a baby walker for her, and although they both allowed her to stand in an upright position, to begin with she wouldn’t try to walk – not even for the lure of a tasty fish."
Thankfully, after a short time Flop began to use her feet to try and push herself up. She did not lift her head, instead choosing to lift her hips to slide on her tummy across the floor.
In the meantime, keepers came across a similar case online at Toronto Zoo in Canada and reached out to them for advice and within 24 hours we received a reply with a host of useful information.
Slowly but surely, Flop started to gain weight and the team moved her back to the isolation area in Penguin Bay for small supervised periods so she could try and swim in the zoo's off-show pool.
A spokesperson for the zoo continued: "This made a huge difference to her recovery and within days, she started to lift her head and stumble forward and eventually she began standing upright all by herself. The team brought in an animal physiotherapist, giving the bird team a series of exercises they could do with Flop to gradually build her strength.
"And just over a month later, Flop was able to spend her first whole day by herself in the isolation area with the other juveniles, where she currently remains before they all make a gradual return to the main colony.
"She will always be smaller and lighter than the rest of our penguins, and the slight hunch in her back will probably never completely disappear. But thanks to her determination and the dedication of our bird keepers, Flop, our very special penguin has found her waddle and we can’t wait to watch how she adapts to any challenges that come her way in the future."
