This is the moment 10 chicks of an endangered penguin species edge towards the water for the first time after being raised in a special zoo nursery.

The footage was obtained from the Tiergarten Schoenbrunn zoo in the Austrian capital city of Vienna, on 2nd June.

The young birds are Northern Rockhopper Penguins (Eudyptes moseleyi), a species listed as Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

The chicks hatched during April and were first cared for by their parents before keepers began feeding them by hand and weighing them regularly in a separate area nicknamed the "kindergarten".

The video footage shows the chicks being fed by their parents before taking to the water for their first swims.

The images also show a zookeeper later feeding the chicks tasty fish by hand once they were able to handle solid food.

Once they moulted, the young penguins were moved to an enclosure with water access alongside the main colony.

The zoo says it is the only one to breed the species regularly and so successfully, crediting a specialist team that has refined its care and rearing methods over many years.

Zoo director Dr Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck said: "Northern Rockhopper Penguins are severely endangered in their original habitat in the South Atlantic.

"As a result, every individual is especially important for the population.

"By feeding and weighing them, we make sure that each animal develops optimally."

In the wild, the species spends up to six months at a time on the open ocean after moulting and otherwise lives around the remote Tristan da Cunha island group in the southern Atlantic.

Niklas Hoerper, a section head at the zoo, said: "Here at the zoo we clearly notice that our rockhopper penguins have different preferences.

"At feeding time, some animals are more trusting and take the fish from the hand, while others prefer to eat at the water's surface or, as is typical for penguins, entirely underwater."

Visitors may be lucky enough to witness the chicks' first feedings in the water.