Our behind-the-scenes breeding rooms which were once filled with our African penguin breeding pairs and their chicks are now empty. As the last two penguin chicks join the rest of the colony on exhibit we realize that we have completed the most successful breeding season on record for the New England Aquarium—eight breeding pairs successfully raised 11 chicks!



Our newest additions are:
Quoin II with a blue and brown bracelet on his left wing
Unombombiya with a red bracelet on his left wing
Agulhas III with an orange and grey bracelet on his left wing
Algoa with a pink and with bracelet on her right wing
Dyer III with a yellow and green bracelet on her right wing
Pilchard with a pink and black bracelet on her right wing (Remember Pilchard? She sports the winning name from our Penguin Naming Contest!)
Hout with a blue and pink bracelet on her right wing
Geyser II with a red and black bracelet on his left wing
Vondeling with a pink and brown bracelet on his left wing
De Hoop with a green and grey bracelet on her right wing and
Table Mountain II with a brown and white bracelet on his left wing

(Stay tuned to future blogs to see why we picked each bird’s name!)

The months of hard work were definitely worth it and the penguin staff would like to thank all of our co-ops, seasonal part time staff and volunteers. We could not have done this without all of them.



I hope you have enjoyed reading about our African penguin breeding process over the past few months as much as I enjoyed sharing it with all of our blog readers.

The next time you are at the Aquarium definitely watch all of our new juvenile penguins as they find their place in our penguin colony.







-Andrea

Get caught up on the breeding process with these previous posts:
Breeding: Playing Match Maker (discover how penguin biologists ensure healthy breeding pairs)
Breeding: A Romantic Getaway (the penguin parents pair off)
Breeding: Candling (learn how staff monitors the chicks growing inside the eggs)
Breeding: Breaking Out! (all about the chicks hatching)
Breeding: Chicks Weighing In (see what a daily check-up is like for the chicks)
Breeding: Tubby Time (watch a penguin chick practice swimming for the first time)