Features

LONG BEACH — A horned puffin chick has hatched at the Aquarium of the Pacific, making it only the second location in the United States to successfully breed the distinctive sea bird. 

The chick, 3 inches long and weighing less than an ounce, was probably born July 7 or 8, said Sean Devereaux, the Long Beach aquarium’s aviculturist. 

“It’s a very rare occurrence to have these animals breed in captivity,” Devereaux said Thursday. 

Horned puffins live on the open ocean, returning to the Pacific coast from Washington to northern Alaska only to breed. The birds are not protected or endangered, but are a rare sight since they spend so much time at sea. A large number of the birds were killed as a result of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound. Their name refers to the hornlike portion of hardened flesh that protrudes above each eye during mating season. The adult birds stand nearly a foot tall on their bright orange legs and feet. 

Along with the eight other horned puffins at the aquarium, the newly born chick is already eating a steady diet of whole fish, said Devereaux, who administers most of the feedings himself. 

Only two other U.S. institutions, the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden and the North Carolina Zoological Park, have horned puffins on exhibit. Only the Cincinnati birds have successfully bred, Devereaux said. 

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On the Net: 

http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/