Gen-too cute: New penguin chick hatches at Albuquerque zoo

ALBUQUERQUE — Turkey. Mashed potatoes. Cranberry sauce.

Those might be filling up the fridge for most New Mexicans post-Thanksgiving dinner. But a seafood meal — lovingly regurgitated — for a newly hatched gentoo penguin chick at the ABQ BioPark gives a new meaning to leftovers.

The chick is the second baby penguin hatched to parents Digit and Killian at the BioPark’s penguin exhibit, which opened in 2019. The hatchling’s older brother, Ike, was born at the zoo in 2022.

Unlike Ike, this chick’s egg was incubated under the watchful eye of zoo staff, who are perfecting their incubation procedure.

“There’s so many things that go into it that we have to get right: the humidity, the temperature, how often it’s being turned,” said zookeeper Elijah Padilla. “So the fact that we were able to g