Danish aquarium welcomes twin penguin hatchlings

Twin penguins have hatched at Kattegatcentret aquarium in Grenå, central Jutland, they are the aquarium's fourth and fifth hatchlings since the penguin breeding programme started in 2023.

The penguins, which are subantarctic gentoo penguins, hatched on Tuesday and Wednesday but despite their different hatching dates, the aquarium says in a press release that they are biologically twins.

The eggs both come from a pair of penguins named Aleksander and Johanne, but to ensure the best chance of survival one of the eggs has been given to a different pair of penguins, Jimmi and Potato.

The penguins at the centre are part of an international breeding programme, which means that breeding pairs are chosen by the programme.

"Potato is important for breeding, but her partner is not important for breeding," zookeeper Mia Rasmussen told the Ritzau news wire.

"So they're not actually allowed to breed. But in order to give Potato some experience, we've taken an egg from Aleksander and Johanne."

The centre saw its first penguin hatch in 2023, with another hatching the same year and a third in 2025.

"This is our fourth and fifth hatchling. The special thing this time is that we have two hatchlings from the same parents, although they're in different nests," Rasmussen said.

The first of the penguin twins hatched on Tuesday morning while there were 18 children on site attending a summer school. The children were among the first to see the newly hatched chick.

Magnus Kerting Teglberg Madsen and Tobias Mehl Sønderskov, two of the children at the aquarium's summer school, described it as "totally crazy" and "super lucky" that they got to see the penguin hatch.

"We saw the baby come out of the egg and saw its tiny body and its little wings," they said.

The gender of the hatchlings is not yet known, it will be confirmed via DNA from a feather once the penguins' first fluffy coat is shed after around 80-100 days.