Beauties meet chicks in cool Ocean Kingdom debuts

Some of the most beautiful and talented women in the world met the marvelous nine fledgling emperor penguins as October turned to November at Ocean Kingdom.

The chicks were hatched at Chimelong International Ocean Resort on Hengqin Island in June, July, and August, setting a record for the number born on the Tropic of Cancer. The women are contestants who were in Zhuhai to mark the official opening of Miss World 2017. Today, finalists are being selected leading to a crowning in Sanya in Hainan on Nov 18. Xiamen native Guan Siyu represents China.

The beauties met the chicks at Chimelong's breeding base. The distinct facility has a regionalized and centralized incubation management system. It also establishes a distraction-free environment by adjusting lighting and temperature. Due to breeding technologies, the survival birthrate penguins reached 100 percent this year. The lightest of the penguin chicks weighs 8.1 kg, and heaviest 20 kg. 

The nine emperor penguin chicks [Photo by Zhu Xi / Zhuhai Daily]

Emperors, the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species, are endemic to Antarctica. Affected by global weather changes, penguins in high latitudes are threatened, which has made the technology of incubating and breeding them in the tropics a controversial topic. 

Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, which features the largest penguin exhibits in the world, opened to the public on March 2014 in Hengqin New Area. Two years later, it became a record-breaker, with the first emperor penguin hatched at Chimelong.

According to an executive of Ocean Kingdom, the resort plans to open another breeding base next year to increase penguin incubating and breeding technologies and contribute toward the reproduction of rare animals.