The first chick was discovered to have hatched in the Woodland Park Zoo's Humboldt penguin exhibit April 1 as part of six eggs in three nests, marking the first breeding and nesting season for the colony of 18 penguins since the exhibit opened last May.

The chick represents the first offspring for mother Dora and father PJ, both 3 years old. The second egg in their nest shows pipping activity and is expected to hatch April 4. The newly hatched chick weighs 2.1 oz.

It will be early summer before any of the chicks emerge from the nesting burrows and venture outdoors into the public exhibit.

“This hatching is significant for the penguin Species Survival Plan,” Mark Myers, a Woodland Park Zoo curator who specializes in birds, said in a press release. “Humboldt penguins are an endangered species, and here at the zoo these birds are important conservation ambassadors to teach visitors about the impacts humans have on penguins in their range countries.”

Over the last few weeks, three pairs of Humboldt penguins have been sitting on two eggs each in the burrows specially constructed for the birds in their new exhibit. At least two of the remaining four eggs are fertile.

“We were very excited when pairs began laying and incubating eggs," Myers said in the press release. "It was an encouraging sign that the penguins are comfortable in their new home and have adjusted quite nicely."

Humboldt penguins, like all penguins, are monogamous. In zoos and in the wild, both penguin parents take turns incubating the eggs and sitting with the chick.

The population of penguins arrived at the zoo last spring through recommendations by the Humboldt penguin Species Survival Plan to ultimately form a breeding colony. Not all of the penguins have recommendations to breed, but additional breeding penguins are scheduled to arrive in April and May to continue growing the colony, according to the zoo's press release.

It is estimated that only 12,000 endangered Humboldt penguins survive in the wild. Overfishing of anchovies – the penguin’s primary food source – and other human activities, such as the harvesting of guano deposits, which penguins rely on to build nests in, pose the greatest threats to their survival, according to the press release.