The zoo where Toga the baby black-foot penguin was stolen said yesterday that his parents had started to build a new nest and were preparing to mate again.
Officials from the Amazon World Zoo Park, at Newchurch, Isle of Wight, admitted that there was now almost no chance of three-month-old Toga's having survived.
Toga was stolen at night 10 days ago, sparking world-wide newspaper and television interest.
Kate Bright, the zoo manager, said: "The parents have made every effort to find him. They appear to have decided he is not coming back.
Now they are starting courtship again so that they can replace the lost baby. They are carrying around nesting material to make a new nest."
Miss Bright said that could mean that a new clutch of eggs would be laid within the next month.
She said it was nature's way for animals to respond to the loss of young by attempting to breed again.
"It will help them get over it," she said. In the wild they would have to get on with it."
She said that both birds were recovering their appetites and looking stronger.
