Photos: Cute baby penguins at SeaWorld San Diego

Thirty penguin chicks have been born at SeaWorld San Diego since mid-November, marking one of the most successful breeding seasons in the marine park’s history.

The newborns include 7 macaroni penguins, 6 gentoo penguins and 17 Adélies penguins.

See more penguins after the jump.

While proud penguin parents are rearing some of the chicks in the chilly 25-degree Penguin Encounter exhibit, SeaWorld employees are hand-raising others in a nursery.

Weighing only a few ounces at birth, the chicks reach their full size — between 8 and 12 pounds — within three months of hatching. SeaWorld doesn’t name the penguins.

More than 500 penguin chicks have been hatched and raised at SeaWorld since 1980.

Top photo: A macaroni penguin father and his chick.

Bottom photo: Parent and chick gentoo penguins nuzzle together.

Find the latest amusement and theme park news at the Los Angeles Times Funland blog: latimes.com/funland.

— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times staff writer

Photos credit: SeaWorld San Diego

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 5, 2009 at 4:30 pm by Brady MacDonald and is filed under California, Family & Kids, San Diego, SeaWorld San DIego, Theme Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.