The world's first test-tube penguin was born at SeaWorld San Diego, and is now 12 weeks old.
Magellan No. 184, is one of hundreds of birds that have been born at SeaWorld, but she is the first to ever be produced through artificial insemination using frozen and thawed semen, NBC San Diego reported.
"This is a technique that has never been performed successfully in any penguin species," SeaWorld's Scientific Director Justine O'Brian told NBC.
Before the birth of the silver and white penguin O'Brian and his colleagues used frozen semen to inseminate the cold weather birds because the thawed version did not appear to be working. On May 14 all of that changed when the Magellanic penguin was hatched.
The remarkable baby was hand-raised in SeaWorld's nursery and nourished with special formula made from "ground herring fillets, krill, vitamins, minerals and water" for the first four months, NBC reported. The bird is now on a healthy diet of solid fish. She has been placed with the other adults at the main Penguin Encounter exhibit.
O'Brian's center works to develop technology that can help endangered species produce offspring. The first marine mammal ever conceived through artificial insemination was in February 2000, according to SeaWorld, NBC reported.
"And [we] use this information to monitor the health of not only our zoological populations, but wild populations as well," said O'Brian.
The technique was created at the SeaWorld Reproductive Research Center, KFMB reported.
"The semen is drawn up this catheter into the syringe. ... All we're doing is helping the sperm get further along into that position for fertilization," Justine O'Brien at the research center said.
The researchers hope their success will lead to improved conservation efforts and could even help threatened or endangered species in the wild.
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