Penguin Chick to Waddle on Exhibit at the Aquarium

August 8, 2017

The Aquarium of the Pacific’s Magellanic Penguin chick hatched in May will make its public debut and join its parents, siblings, and other birds in the June Keyes Penguin Habitat on August 8. Members of the media are invited to watch as the penguin chick waddles on exhibit around 8:00 a.m., and the public can see it when the Aquarium opens that morning at 9:00 a.m.

The chick was born to parents Roxy and Floyd. Roxy, the penguin chick’s mother, came to the Aquarium from Brazil. She was rescued and deemed non-releasable to the wild. She and Floyd are also parents to Skipper, Lily, Heidi, and Anderson. Magellanic Penguin chicks are hatched with a downy layer of plumage that is not watertight. The Aquarium’s penguin chick was taken after about twenty-one days to a behind-the-scenes nursery, where it will remain until its down is replaced by watertight juvenile feathers, a process called fledging. During its time in the nursery, the chick is learning to swim and to take hand-fed, whole fish.

In celebration of the baby bird, the Aquarium is offering the opportunity to adopt the chick through its Adopt an Animal program. Those adopting a penguin chick at the $100 level or higher before September 30, 2017, will have a chance to go behind the scenes for a feeding and training session with the penguins.

Magellanic Penguins are a temperate species native to the coasts of Argentina and Chile in South America. It takes between thirty-eight to forty-three days of incubation before a Magellanic Penguin egg will hatch. The parents take turns incubating the eggs and feeding the chicks after they hatch.