On October 11, 2012, the seventh Emperor Penguin chick was born at Adventure World. Weighing 305 grams, the chick was chirping energetically immediately after hatching.
　Emperor penguins are penguins that do not build nests, but instead hold their eggs and raise their chicks on their feet. As a result, their eggs are more likely to break than those of nesting penguins, and their chicks are more likely to be crushed to death by their parents immediately after hatching. In order to increase the number of Emperor penguins, of which only 21 are kept in Japan, our staff members have raised the past six chicks in place of their parents. All of these six chicks were artificially raised successfully, but imprinting on humans (the phenomenon of remembering the first moving object as the parent after birth) was observed, and this did not lead to breeding even after they reached adulthood.
　So, as the next step, we decided to try "natural brood rearing," which is the original behavior of Emperor penguins and their offspring. After laying eggs, we decided to have the parents hold fake eggs and incubate them in an incubator to raise them artificially for the first time, and return the chicks to the parents in exchange for the fake eggs when the chicks are firm (around 10 days after birth).

Chicks to parent birds ◆
October 21 (10 days old) Chicks weighed 486g and their necks are sitting up and getting stronger. At last, they are ready for the challenge to raise chicks naturally.
　We set up a special space for natural brood rearing in a section of the exhibition space, and at first, we moved only the male parent holding the eggs into the space and entrusted the chicks to him. Three breeding staff members carried the chicks to the space and placed them on the feet of the parent birds. The parent birds did not seem to be in any particular state of agitation and repeatedly checked the chicks with their beaks, which was a relief to us. However, although the chick occasionally chirped, it did not stick its head out to demand food.
　We observed the parent and baby until the next morning, but did not see any feeding from the male parent, so we moved the female parent into the space and had the three birds live together with the male and female parents. At that moment, the male and female parents chirped at each other, and the chicks chirped as if in sync. However, we could not confirm feeding from the parent birds, although we could see them feeding. We continued to observe the chicks, but again could not see any feeding from the parents, so we gave up on natural brood rearing and switched back to artificial brood rearing.

◆Future issues ◆
Previously, chicks were cohabitated with other adult birds when they were around 18 months old. We thought that by comparing them with adult penguins, we could see the differences in their body patterns and sizes, and also that by having them interact with other penguins as early as possible, they would be able to breed in the future. We also thought that having the penguins in contact with other penguins at an early age would lead to future breeding.
　Our biggest challenge for the future is "how to make the parent birds feed the chicks".

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　（The biggest challenge for the future is "how to get the parent birds to feed the chicks.)