Penguins fasted because of broken eggs

A pair of penguins in Heilongjiang Province, northeast of China, sadly quit eating after the egg they were hatching broke because of a scuffle with other birds.

The mother's penguin laid the egg on November 3. This makes other penguins in the zoo jealous. They kept hanging around the young mother to wait for an opportunity to attack.

Jealousy eventually turned into violence at 7pm on November 20, when the female bird was away. A fat penguin flew into the nest, pushed the male bird away and tried to rob the egg. The angry father jumped out of the way and unfortunately the egg fell and broke.

The couple was so sad before this tragedy and refused to eat or drink anything. They also become irritable, restless and elusive of all types.

To help the penguins overcome this pain, experts at the zoo put a boiled egg between the two birds to comfort them. Birds are also separated from others and fed special food - Arctic shrimp.

There are about 17 penguins at the zoo, all taken from Antarctica in 2005, of which only 3 are female. Now another female also prepares to lay eggs. It takes 3 to 8 years for penguins to reach adult age for sex. A female bird usually lays only 1-2 eggs per litter.

The mother bird saddened the broken egg. (Photo: Xinhua)

MT