February 27, 2024
Provided image/Adventure Aquarium
The new little blue penguin chicks, including Bananas Foster (pictured above on her hatch date), will not be on display at the Adventure Aquarium until they are two months old.
Three hatchlings have waddled onto the little blue penguin colony at Adventure Aquarium, but you can't meet them just yet.
The Camden attraction recently welcomed three, healthy little blue penguin chicks after a "successful breeding season," general curator Nikki Grandinetti said in a statement. The first, a baby girl named Bananas Foster, was born on Jan. 26. Another baby girl, Kiwi, arrived on Feb. 6, followed by an unnamed third chick on Feb. 12. That baby bird's sex has not yet been determined.
The trio will remain out of view until they are about 2 months old, at which point the aquarium will introduce them to a "howdy pen" on Little Blue Beach. The chicks will make day trips to the enclosure to acclimate them to the wider space before they officially join the colony. Bananas Foster, as the oldest, is expected to debut in mid-March.
She is the daughter of first-time parents Chip and Truffle, who apparently neglected to read their penguin baby books. According to the aquarium, Chip and Truffle would not sit on and incubate their egg, putting Bananas Foster's survival at stake. Staffers thus stored the egg in incubator until about a week before hatch time, when it was placed in the care of Kororaa and Phillip, experienced parents who incubated the egg and fostered the hatchling until she could eat whole fish. She is now learning essential life skills under the care of a biologist.
The second little blue penguin chick, Kiwi, is shown above at 15 days old.
Kiwi was born to Sheila and Spud, who welcomed a boy chick last February. He was eventually named Tater Tot. Sheila is also mom to Adelaide, Elanora, Aroha and Phoenix. Penguin couple Maremma and Bloke brooded the third mystery chick.
The third chick, above, does not have a name yet.
The public will help name youngest new baby bird via social media. Adventure Aquarium expects to launch the naming contest next week.
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