Rockhopper penguins
“Over the past few years, we have increased our efforts in attempting to improve our breeding success. In 2004, we collected semen from 6.0.0 rockhopper penguins. From our knowledge and research, we are the first zoo that has done this with rockhopper penguins. We were very successful in our collections. We had one male trained so well that when he saw the visual cues, he started milking himself!
In 2005, we took it one step further. We not only collected from more males (14.0.0), but we also artificially inseminated all of our females (0.12.0). Once we collected from everyone, we would pool all of the “good” semen together, extend it, and then artificially inseminate. We are working with a DNA specialist who is evaluating the eggs if the AI really worked or not. We have not heard all of the results yet.
In 2006, our building went under construction. All of our birds went to Moody Gardens, Galveston, TX. While the rockhoppers were there, none of them bred.
In 2007, all of our birds were returned in May. We hope to continue our breeding efforts to some degree this breeding season which starts end of September.”More information
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