Aquarium to fly in penguin suitors

An aquarium is set to fly in four young male penguins to their polar-style pad to help produce the country’s first ever gentoo penguin offspring — after their elderly penguin Hef failed to live up to his famous name.

The 22-year-old male — named after the Playboy founder — hooked up with the seven-year-old playmate Candy over a year ago at their €1 million Antarctic quarters in the Dingle Oceanworld Aquarium which is home to a dozen of the creatures.

The penguin pair slept together with their heads side by side under their wings in their roost for more than a year but the aquarium’s director, Kevin Flannery, said the eagerly awaited eggs from the lovebirds have failed to materialise.

He said: “Maybe it’s just a case that like Hugh Hefner, he’s just too old. He is still with her but nothing is happening.”

Now Mr Flannery said they are bringing in four Scottish males to the group in an effort to produce the first penguin chicks of their kind to hatch out in the country.

“We have made contact with the zoo in Edinburgh to get four young males over here by around September. We’re not too sure why they didn’t breed but we’re hoping these Scottish penguins will be more fertile.

“At the moment there are four males and eight females so this will make eight males and eight females.

“Hopefully the new males will pair off and breed in the early spring.”

During the breeding season, which occurs around October in the wild, the female lays two eggs in her nest of rocks and twigs. The expectant parents then take turns to incubate the eggs until the chicks hatch after 35 days.