Adventure Aquarium has just announced the arrival of three healthy blue penguin hatchlings. The adorable baby birds come from the coasts of Australia and New Zealand, and get their name from their slate-blue feathers and stature as the smallest penguin species. The aquarium has welcomed eight baby chicks over the past three breeding seasons.
Bananas Foster was hatched on January 26 to Chip and Truffle. Chip and Truffle were first-time parents and didn’t sit on their egg, so staff members had to place the egg in an incubator until a week before its estimated hatch window. At that point, the egg was placed with Kororaa and Phillip so they could continue incubating the egg and serve as foster parents to the newborn chick.
The second chick of the season, another female named Kiwi, hatched on February 6 to parents Sheila and Spud. Kiwi has a brother Tater Tot and half-sisters Adelaide, Elanora, Aroha and Phoenix – and Sheila is mama to all of them.
The last chick hatched on February 12 to parents Maremma and Bloke, and was determined to be a girl. The aquarium held a naming contest via social media so you could vote for your favorite. More than 2,000 votes were received over the course of the week for the Valentine’s Day-themed names of Lovie, Rose, Valentina and Venus – and Lovie was chosen!
You’ll have to wait a bit to see the chicks in person. Once they’re two months old they’ll appear in the “howdy pen” on Little Blue Beach so they can adjust to their new home before being introduced to the colony. That means Bananas will be the first penguin to meet the public, around mid-March. While there, you’ll be able to catch the Mermaid Underwater Experience through March 17.
Adventure Aquarium is located at 1 Riverside Dr. in Camden. To learn more or to purchase daily tickets, visit AdventureAquarium.com.
You can see the mermaids and the penguins on our Instagram page.
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