Carrie Blackmore Smith

csmith@enquirer.com

Anticipating a couple of births, Cincinnati Zoo officials asked Thursday, “which will come first, the aardvark or the egg?”

Around 6 a.m. Friday, they had their answer.

A little penguin, also known as a blue or fairy penguin, hatched before daybreak – the first animal born at the zoo in 2016 – and during the Zoo's Penguin Days, no less.

Weighing less than one-tenth of a pound, the penguin joins 32 of its kind at the zoo. They are the smallest breed of penguin in the world and native to the southern shores of Australia and New Zealand.

Cincinnati Zoo has the largest colony of little penguins in the United States and they are housed at the zoo's Spaulding Children's Zoo exhibit.

Four chicks have hatched in Cincinnati during this breeding season and there are seven eggs still to hatch in the exhibit, according to Cincinnati Zoo bird keeper Jennifer Gainer.

That means Ali the aardvark's baby will probably be No. 2. She has been on birth watch since early December.

“Ultrasounds have shown that the baby is in position and Ali is as big as a house," said nursery keeper Dawn Strasser. "Her chin has a chin. I really thought she would have the first baby of 2016."

But Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard says it's fitting that the little penguin came first, given the zoo celebrates Penguin Days in January, February and the first part of March.

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Penguin parades will be held daily through March 11, and special animal encounters are planned every Saturday and Sunday. Admission is half off, too.

For more information, visit CincinnatiZoo.org.