Adventure Aquarium unveils new baby African penguin, asks public to pick name

A new baby African penguin at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden was unveiled Monday and a contest was announced to name him.

The unnamed chick was hatched Nov. 21 and was the third African penguin to be hatched at the Adventure Aquarium in 2025. The announcements of new chicks are held off until biologists determine the new bird is healthy and expected to survive.

The other two baby African penguins, Duffy and Oscar, hatched earlier in November.

“Although he’s a little bit younger than the other two, he does make up for it in size. He is quite a big baby penguin chick,” Maddie Olszewski-Pohle, a biologist, says in the aquarium’s introduction video posted on social media.

Starting Monday, aquarium visitors can vote on one of four names offered for the new penguin: “Scrappy,” “Zero,” “Flounder,” or “Toothless.”

The unnamed chick is being parented by Mushu and Hubert, who also parented a 2024 chick, Shubert. Mushu was named for a dragon sidekick from the Disney movie “Mulan,” so the aquarium’s birds and mammals team chose possible names using a dragons and sidekicks theme.

The naming contest will close Jan. 19, and the winner will be announced Jan. 20, Penguin Awareness Day, the aquarium staff said.

African penguins, which originate from the waters around southern Africa, are classified critically endangered, so the hatches are important to the survival of the species.

The naming contest will benefit the Association of Zoos and Aquariums SAFE African Penguin program and the nonprofit Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds.

“As an ambassador for his species, this chick is helping raise awareness and funds to protect African penguins in South Africa,” Olszewski-Pohle said in a statement.

The three baby penguins will remain behind the scenes until they develop waterproof feathers and the weather warms up, aquarium staff said.