Lansing, Michigan: Potter Park Zoo is back at it again, adding two more penguins to its collection in 2024. Apparently Skipper and Jayde, the zoo’s Star Magellan penguin parents, who are always ready for a formal affair, couldn’t resist the urge to expand their family.

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After successfully hatching Sweeney in 2023, they followed up with twins this year! That’s right, because apparently one fluffy ball of cuteness isn’t enough for these high-flyers from Lansing, Michigan.

Sweeney from Potter Park Zoo in Lansing has company

Remember Sweeney? Hatched on July 6 last year, the penguin probably thought he’d be the center of attention forever. Well, not anymore, Sweeney! With these new additions in 2024, Sweeney’s days as an only child were officially over on June 16, 2024, and again on June 19, when his siblings hatched at Potter Park Zoo.

The zoo has not seen such “productivity” from penguins in over a decade, and Skipper and Jayde are receiving high praise for their parenting skills.

Penguin parenthood: It’s a rumination station

If you thought being a human parent was a challenge, try being a Magellanic penguin. Those 2am feedings with a screaming baby seem like a walk in the park when you consider that Skipper and Jayde take turns feeding their chicks pre-chewed and regurgitated food. Yummy. Over the last few days, however, the chicks have started to trust the chicks’ second set of helicopter parents, the Potter Park Penguin Care Team, as you can see in the video below:

Stay tuned for the big unveiling of the newest Magellanic penguin chicks in Lansing

If you’re like me and wondering when we’ll be able to see the new arrivals at Potter Park Zoo, we’ll have to wait a little while longer. But once they get their juvenile feathers and the care team gives them the OK, they’ll make their grand entrance with plenty of banter. Until then, you can follow the hatchlings and all the animals at Potter Park on their social media accounts, but we’ll let you know as soon as we know.

Zoos in Michigan, 1910s-1950s