{"id":499335,"date":"2026-01-07T16:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/499335\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T16:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:56:09","slug":"fluffy-penguin-chick-hatches-at-adventure-aquarium-and-he-needs-a-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/499335\/","title":{"rendered":"Fluffy penguin chick hatches at Adventure Aquarium, and he needs a name"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"E4BPHB4KNZDDPAZRFZ5EMMKUKI\">An African penguin chick has hatched at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.adventureaquarium.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.adventureaquarium.com\/\">Adventure Aquarium<\/a> in Camden, marking the 53rd chick born at the facility. The chick joins <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nj.com\/camden\/2025\/12\/2-adorable-african-penguin-chicks-hatch-at-nj-aquarium.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nj.com\/camden\/2025\/12\/2-adorable-african-penguin-chicks-hatch-at-nj-aquarium.html\">Oscar and Duffy<\/a>, birds hatched at the aquarium, it was announced last month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"33CZHJBHTJBRJJRO5A3GWWPFFQ\">To celebrate the latest arrival, the aquarium is asking the public to help name the male chick through a charitable naming contest that will benefit penguin conservation efforts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"UT4X44XE5NBIDADOOM2HBF6P24\">Aquarium visitors can vote in person on their favorite name from four options selected by the Birds &amp; Mammals team: <\/p>\n<ul class=\"article__unordered-list\">\n<li id=\"HXHLHG3IWNC7DEHDTXXIGIZ6YA\">Scrappy<\/li>\n<li id=\"CQ64Z6TQBNGNZNPVFLXJWBKDA4\">Zero<\/li>\n<li id=\"LHTKGOKHPRCKVJNZQBMMBZSGZA\">Flounder<\/li>\n<li id=\"EN3ZOROJQBDAFPBNGU23G57VFU\">Toothless<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"ZEJQQZJWYRBZHEJ6H4DR5LUVOE\">Voting will take place through donation boxes, with proceeds benefiting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africanpenguinsafe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.africanpenguinsafe.com\/\">AZA SAFE African Penguins<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/sanccob.co.za\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/sanccob.co.za\/\">Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"BGO2YHAERBBQRCL55YDNA2EC4U\">The contest closes Jan. 19, and the winning name will be announced Jan. 20, which is Penguin Awareness Day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"76U657N2XNCJ7DSQMHIE4PEI64\">The chick hatched Nov. 21, 2025 to parents Mushu and Hubert, who also parented one of the chicks announced in December 2024, Shubert. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"V7KJWEPJLJF65MEGIH6HVFYI2Q\">The name options follow a \u201cdragons and sidekicks\u201d theme, honoring the mother Mushu, who is named after the Disney dragon sidekick character.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"G7RZUFLCP5GKXF4JXSK4JFPL5I\">\u201cWe are very excited for Mushu and Hubert to raise their second-ever chick,\u201d Maddie Olszewski-Pohle, a biologist II focusing on African penguins, said in a written statement. \u201cBoth parents did an exceptional job feeding and caring for this chick, who is the biggest of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"JE5BUFY7NBHVRFO62BGRKOWLJE\">The birth comes as African penguins face increasing threats, the aquarium reports. The species was reclassified as critically endangered in October 2024 by the <a href=\"https:\/\/iucn.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/iucn.org\/\">International Union of the Conservation of Nature <\/a>due to habitat loss and environmental changes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"6QE6RQ4ZS5C4RAVGBFZKXR4Z54\">Experts warn that African penguins could be functionally extinct by 2035 without continued conservation action.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"PEXILKQBNVBOTDUBBTOKY5NHTQ\">Adventure Aquarium participates in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aza.org\/species-survival-plan-programs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.aza.org\/species-survival-plan-programs\">Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan<\/a>, which works to ensure healthy, genetically diverse populations in human care. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"GMGITV4445CZ5HAE5CFOOOYXOY\">Like the two chicks announced in December, Oscar and Duffy, the newest arrival will remain behind the scenes until it develops waterproof feathers and weather conditions allow. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"GU445GTJ4VE27EULODQZN3NRPE\">Guests can follow the chicks\u2019 progress on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/adventureaquarium\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/adventureaquarium\/?hl=en\">Instagram<\/a> for updates and behind-the-scenes looks as they grow.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An African penguin chick has hatched at Adventure Aquarium in Camden, marking the 53rd chick born at the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":499336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-499335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-pa","10":"tag-pennsylvania","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115854874154359799","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}