Three new penguin chicks join African penguin exhibit

SAN FRANCISCO (March 11, 2015)—Today, biologists at the California Academy of Sciences introduced three juvenile penguin chicks to the popular African penguin exhibit. The trio includes Marcus, a male juvenile who hatched in December, and a yet-to-be-named male and female pair who hatched a month earlier in November. After several months of bonding behind-the-scenes, the chicks have learned to swim and eat fish from a biologist to prepare them for joining 14 adult birds in the Academy’s bustling colony.

The Academy has enlisted the help of several local museums to nominate names for the two unnamed birds, including Asian Art Museum, Exploratorium, de Young, Oakland Museum of California, Walt Disney Family Museum, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Each Bay Area institution submitted one name inspired by their own museum’s mission and collections. Starting today, the Academy is asking the public to cast a vote for one male and one female name online at www.calacademy.org/name-a-penguin. Voting will run for two weeks and winning names will be announced via the Academy’s social media channels and website on Wednesday, March 25.

The Academy has a long and successful history of breeding African penguins as part of a Species Survival Plan. This collaborative breeding program with partner Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited institutions is dedicated to maintaining genetic diversity in the captive population of African penguins. The most recently hatched chick Marcus, named by Academy biologists for Marcus Island, one of 24 islands off the coast of South Africa with breeding colonies of African penguins, is the fourth chick to hatch in the Academy’s new building as part of this SSP program. African penguins were classified as an endangered species in 2010 and are at high risk of extinction in the wild.

In December 2014, Academy assistant curator Vikki McCloskey and biologist Crystal Crimbchin traveled to South Africa to hand-rear chicks abandoned by their parents and introduce these penguins back into the wild as part of the Academy’s partnership with SANCCOB, a leading conservation organization.

The Academy also recently launched a brand new HD Penguin Cam, where visitors can tune in to catch live feedings twice daily at 10:30 am and 3 pm (PST). The Penguin Cam is available online or by downloading the Pocket Penguins mobile app.