Whipsnade Zoo's Rockhopper penguins prepare for arrival of babies

Rockhopper penguins at Whipsnade Zoo have begun to lay eggs and keep them warm and toasty, just in time for spring.

There are seven nests in the enclosure with keepers hoping for three babies to hatch this month. Last year two male couples paired up and started building nests, so this year they are being prepared to foster any spare eggs.

Claire McSweeney has been a keeper for 10 years and has been preparing the male couples for their parenthood journey.

She said: "Obviously, they wouldn't lay an egg but it's quite useful to have a spare set of parents. We gave them a dummy egg and sat on it the whole 35-day incubation period.”

Claire added: "It gives us the flexibility to have them jump in and be parents."

If the incubation is looking unsuccessful, keepers will step in to incubate or, in some cases, hand-rear chicks. This is what happened to Dobby, an 11-month-old Rockhopper who was cared for by Claire and the team, feeding her fish soup through a syringe throughout the day.

Given their conservation status, the keepers are determined to make sure they keep all the eggs safe.

Visitors to the zoo are told to look out for tiny beaks poking out from underneath the Rockhoppers towards the end of next month with the eggs due to hatch on World Penguin Day (April 25).

Rockhopper are native to a few islands near Antarctica and are an endangered species due to overfishing and pest problems.