Penguin chicks Dwight and Jim have enjoyed their very first swimming session at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Washington.
A video clip posted by the US zoo shows the pair being lowered into a swimming pool by keepers and splashing about as they got used to the water.
Posting a video of the fun, the zoo said: “Penguin chicks Dwight and Jim went swimming for the first time yesterday!”
Dwight and Jim go swimming! Penguin chicks Dwight and Jim went swimming for the first time yesterday! They adorably dove and splashed around their private pool behind-the-scenes as penguin keepers kept a close eye on the two cuties. Posted by Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium on Wednesday, July 24, 2019
The zoo said: “They adorably dived and splashed around their private pool behind the scenes as penguin keepers kept a close eye on the two cuties.”
The chicks, rare Magellanic penguins native to Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil, were born in May to mother Yellow and father Orange.
At the time, senior staff biologist Amanda Shaffer said: “Yellow and Orange are very attentive parents. The parents take turns brooding the chicks, keeping them warm with special patches on their abdomens that allow the chicks contact with their skin.”
