A horned puffin chick that hatched last month at Point Defiance Zoo's Rocky Shores habitat for sea birds is the first to ever hatch at the zoo.
The chick is in good health and might make short appearances for zoo visitors this week while its parents take turns feeding it, the zoo said in a news release. Keepers won't know if it's a boy or a girl until it's old enough for a blood sample.
Zookeepers built nest boxes for the horned puffins earlier this year with help from experts at the Alaska Sea Life Center for the mating pair.
Zoo visitors can hear more about the puffins during daily presentations at noon. The zoo houses four adult members of the horned puffin species.
Horned puffins incubate for 40 days. After hatching, they spend 40 more days in the burrow until it fledges or gets enough strength and feathers on its own.
Right now, the zoo said the chick looks like a black and gray ball of fluff with a dark gray beak, which will eventually turn into a yellow-orange color with a red tip.
